Toptree issue4 by Top Tree

Facts

Serving: Issue #4 Serving per Container: 1 Calories: Tree Million

Amount/Serving

%DV

NEW ORLEANS

STAS THEE BOSS

BILL WALTON

...AND MORE

*Percent Values (DV) based on Top Tree Diet

February 2017

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A creation by Top Tree spiritual guide Elisa Moon Wolf Vergara I'd like to take you on a trip inside my inner most thoughts. An epic ride of spirit, soul, sexuality and third eye visions — all delicately curated under the influence of hemp. Take a deep breath... hold it for three seconds and exhale. I hope that you are high when you read this. Let's pretend it's mandatory. It is my belief, that in all things, resides a masculine and feminine energy. I in no way wish to disregard the masculine, only to focus this time on the feminine. On this day we’ll discuss marijuana's sacred Goddess-hood and a cannabis oil, created to aid in discovering new depths of feminine sexuality and pleasures. Hemp has associations to Goddesses as far back into antiquity as written text. The Hindu Indians have songs in their Holy Veda, of a divine cannabis nectar. A drink preferred by the King of Indian Gods — Indra. If consumed it would give a person long life, visions of the Gods and great health. The Eastern Goddess Ashera's cult was particularly focused around the use of marijuana. Bast (Egyptian Goddess of Enlightenment) can be seen by humans, while under the influence of a incense called "Neter Sentra" or "Breath of the Deities.” This spiritually altered state runs on the thought that marijuana smoke is the breath of the Goddess Bast. The recipe for the Ancient Egyptian's "Breath of Bast" incense can be made easily today.

6 parts marijuana buds, marijuana leaves, or hashish 4 parts frankincense 3 parts acacia gum 2 parts myrrh 1 part catnip 1 part cedar 1 part cinnamon 1/2 part juniper 2 drops civet oil Devotees of "Kali Ma Destroyer of Ego" have throughout history ingested marijuana as a form of Goddess worship. While under the influence, sacred sex is preformed. In an attempt to raise ones Kundalini — a coiled energy of divine glory that sits at the base of your spine. The idea that cannabis stimulated orgasms can help in raising ones kundalini energy is nothing new. So it’s no surprise that cannabis-infused sensual oils have joined us on the recreational market, and are in high demand. BOND OIL is one of many personal lubricants you will find at your local dispensary. It stands out amongst the rest because of its sleek black packaging, easy instructions, pure organic ingredients and locally made essence. Their website states that: "For centuries many different cultures have used cannabis to enhance sexual experiences and it’s known that certain strains of cannabis can elevate your sexual appetite and level of arousal. One of our team members was reading about how the endocannabinoid system could affect sexual organs and she spoke with our resident herbalist." The sensations vary person to person, however I will attest to a pleasant tingling, warmth and prolonged orgasms. While it can be used as a lubricant, because of its coconut oil consistency it would be better described as a sensor y heightener, since it is applied to the clitoris, inner and outer labia. BOND Oil can be purchased in bottle form or pre-packaged "Experiences.” I plan to try it again while I burn a Bast incense and evoke the Goddess. (SENPAI)

Words by Elisa Moon Wolf Vergara â&#x20AC;¢ Photos Courtesy of Creative Commons

Lyricist, producer, and the new voice of KEXP’s Street Sounds Stas Thee Boss on coolin’, chiefin’, creating and life after Sub Pop

Stasia Irons — aka Stas Thee Boss — is a true area local. Born in Tacoma before moving to Skyway at age 10, she went to Renton High School and then UW, where she got an English degree and met her longtime-girlfriend Cat, who she star ted her first group THEESatisfaction with in 2008. THEESatisfaction went on to become a crucial part of Seattle’s “third wave” of hip-hop, their “psychedelic space-rap/jazz” a refreshing addition to the movement’s deep — but mostly male-dominated — roster of talent. Their steady stream of strong self-released projects and groovy, otherworldly live performances landed them a deal with storied local label Sub Pop in 2011. >>>

“We weren’t even thinking about stuff like that (when we started) making music,” Stas recounts from a dimly-lit booth at Capitol Hill’s Havana Social Club, current home to her Wednesday night “Coolin’” DJ residency. “We were just gonna make jams you know, see how far it takes us. But (Sub Pop) made sense at the time, just to get our music out as far as we could. We thought about other labels, traditional hip-hop labels and stuff, but then when it came down to it we were like, ‘we need to go Seattle, hard.’” Going Seattle hard paid off for both parties, with the group’s two full-lengths released on the label, “awE naturalE” and “EarthEE,” gaining international acclaim and reaching levels of success and exposure seldom seen in Seattle hip-hop. (Unless, maybe if it’s by a white guy making kidz bop-ready Billboard hits). “We put out two albums with them, we toured all over the world... I mean I’ve touched places I never thought I would,” said Stas. “It was really dope and I’m glad we did that instead of sitting on somebody’s shelf. (Sub Pop) wanted us to just do whatever we wanted, they were like ‘we trust you, we know you’re gonna give us jams, so go.’” But after seven years of “creating, touring, pushing boundaries and breaking glass ceilings” (as the PR notice accurately put it), THEESatisfaction the group — or really Stas and Cat the couple — broke up in early 2016. There was no dramatic falling out, no public or online beefs, no “behind the music” style subplot to it. It was just two individuals’ personal and business relationship running its course — from college students to working artists in their mid-20s. “We were dating before we even started the group, then we started the group and we’re dating, and we’re also business partners, and we’re also in a band together. Just spending extra-extra time together you know,” Stas revealed. “Making music, touring the music, going over taxes and stuff, doing everything ourselves pretty much. It just came to the point where we didn’t spend any time apart and it just got really hard to kinda have your own brain. We were like let’s just, you know, understand whats happening now. Let’s just do our own things and see what happens with that.” Stas credits a brief move to New York with refreshing her perspective and getting used to being on her own again. Upon returning to Seattle, she says, she understood what she could d o n o w a s p a r t o f h e r h o m e t o w n ’s a r t s community. She immediately got to work, starting a pop-up house party Sway x Swoon with longtime friend/local vocalist JusMoni, and adding her

talents alongside the multifaceted combo of Larry Mizell, Jr. and OCnotes to start the Coolin’ weekly at Havana Social Club on Capitol Hill. “Then Otis moved to Arizona a couple months after we started it, then Larry moved to LA, and I was like okay,” Stas notes. “I ain’t goin’ nowhere so I’m gonna keep it poppin.” Larry Mizell, Jr.’s move also meant that KEXP FM’s weekly Street Sounds specialty rap/hip-hop show, which he had been hosting since 2009, was suddenly in need of a replacement. “I joked around with him when he told me he was moving like ‘give me your show and give me your column!’. He was like ‘ah ok, whatever,’” Stas joked. “But then he hit me up like ‘no for real, do you want to do this?’” On October 2, 2016, Stas made her radio debut as KEXP Street Sounds’ new host — the first time the title has been owned full-time by a woman. Her mix is a diverse blend of new and old school, of smooth and gangsta, her air-break voice a silky, soothing accent to the bounty of jams. She confesses that a voice as suave as hers did take some practice. “When I was starting THEESat, I was like well okay, it’s my beats, but my voice is the instrument. I have to have some sort of sound,” she concluded. “I’m not really a fan of my own speaking voice cuz I’ve lived with this my whole life, but I do have favorite vocalists like Guru from Gang Starr, Chaka Khan, Barry White, Dionne Warwick. I love their voices and I just studied the timbre, the tone, their little exclamations, certain things like that and kinda took all those things and tried to not necessarily mimic, but like synthesize it and make it into one Stasia-esque thing.” And while it’s been a highlight of her show for many — her diverse and comprehensive music mix has also pushed Street Sounds into exciting, sometimes unexpected new territories. “I kinda want it to be more like a free-flowing thing,” Stas mentions. “My mind works really strange when I’m creating playlists and shit like that. Sometimes I’ll play a Future song and then I might want to hear Bow Wow because they both dated Ciara. I might play Biggie then play 2pac right after, I might play Big L, you know, play five dead rappers in a row type of shit. It’s not random at all. It’s definitely thought out, but not necessarily in ways like ‘oh this BPM matches with this, or this is the same kinda vibe as this.’ It’s just whatever my brain is going through that day.” >>>

Somehow between Sway x Swoon, Coolin’, Street Sounds, and a 9-5 tech job as a copywriter, Stas has somehow still found time to release a steady stream of loose solo singles and features on her SoundCloud page. “I’m not sure what I want to do with it yet, I know I want to put out a full-length,” she explains. “I haven’t put my music on the back burner. I’ve been making music constantly, it’s just like I’m chillin’, not trying to force anything. And just trying to support my homies. Moni came out with her project and I was a part of that. Porter (Ray)’s album is coming out, I’m a part of that too. Nate Jack’s about to put out something, I’ve been working with him a lot. I want them to shine too you know… You’ve been there since day one so I’m gonna help you in any way I can.” Other than that, Stas says she’s just “trying to get as many cool people to do in-studios with me at KEXP” as possible. “I hear Thundercat’s coming up here in February,” she adds. “I’m gonna see if I can get him to come in there — that would be very lit.” Naturally, she still gets lit whenever she gets a break from her insanely busy schedule, and says that herb has played a huge role in her music career. “Everytime I make a jam I gotta be on it,” Stas said. “To chill me out, open my mind up. Definitely that was a huge part of THEESat. We would smoke right before we would record because we knew that when we were onstage we were gonna be smoking before we went on-stage, so we didn’t wanna have a different sound.” As a lifelong Seattleite, she also acknowledges the differences in post-502 Washington State. But Stas knows all too well about how things change — from careers to relationships to smoking habits and taste preferences. “It’s weird, I haven’t bought weed in a long time just because it’s been gifted, and weed is so easy to come by since it’s been legalized here,” Stas admits. “I also haven’t been smoking as much just because once we made it legal it’s like the risk is out of the picture. I can’t get caught smoking weed because it’s fine, I can smoke weed anywhere now.” “I had been fucking with sativas, but then… I don’t know, it makes you paranoid,” she adds with a laugh. “Weed is like too strong now or something, all the way up! I’m back on the indica for sure. Or the hybrids.” Words by Mike Ramos • Photos by Carson Allmon & Chernsicle

The sci-fi adventure of Bay Area thrash metal band SLEEP took 20 years and some far out inter -galactic alien weed to get right

“Grow-Room is church temple of the new stoner breed Chants Loud-Robed priest down on to the freedom seed Burnt offering redeems – completes smoked deliverance Caravans’ stoned deliverance The caravan holds to Eastern Creed — Now smokes believer! The Chronicle of the Sensimillian Drop out of life with bong in hand Follow the smoke toward the riff-filled land” “Grow-Room is church temple of the new stoner breed Chants Loud-Robed priest down on to the freedom seed Burnt offering redeems — completes smoked deliverance Caravans’ stoned deliverance The caravan holds to Eastern Creed — Now smokes believer! The Chronicle of the Sensimillian Drop out of life with bong in hand Follow the smoke toward the riff-filled land” SLEEP: “Dopesmoker”

TIME: 4:20 PM DATE: FEBRUARY 1, 2017 CITY: Seattle, Washington ADDRESS: 925 E. Pike St. LONG/LAT: -122.32/47.61 TEMPERATURE: 42Â°F

Gabrielle Kadushin

Trailblazing hooper and activist Bill Walton and a cast of ESPN personalities go off script and talk marijuana over Disney’s airwaves This is an excerpt from ESPN Voices — a new format that gets commentators, ex-jocks and show hosts from all different sports, to sit and watch a game together, then records the audio for podcast style broadcast. This particular festival of gasbaggery, coincided with the College Football National Championship Game on January 9, 2017. The unscripted free-for-all was loose. Cups were passed around with liquids that preferred to remain anonymous, and Grateful Dead tie-dye tall guy — NBA legend Bill Walton — seemed overtly stoned. The result was the most geeked programming in the history of ESPN, which has a tightly puckered reputation as a Disney affiliate. At one point the main television game cast dropped in to ESPN Voices between commercial slots, a humanizing behind-the-scenes content ploy ESPN uses on multiple shows. They just happened to time it perfectly to catch Bill Walton’s hot-mic comment about amnesty for all marijuana possession felons. It made waves on the Internet, and no punishment was levied on the self-described hippie that provides colorful commentary for ESPN’s basketball programming. >>>

Bill Walton: “What city is Clemson in?” Bill Walton: “What’s the Quarterback’s name? He’s good? What year in school is he? Who’s favored to win this game? What does Brent (Musburger) say? Is Brent calling the game is Brent there?” Rachel Nichols: “What’s in the cup?” Michelle Beadle: “Oh, tea…” Rachel Nichols: “Please can we not get fired tonight?” Marcellus Wiley: “Icccccceeeeeeddd tea.” Michelle Beadle: “What? I’m healthy, I plan on living forever. Anti-ox-idants…” Bill Walton: “Come by my room later, I got something for that.” Michelle Beadle: “That’s the most action I’ve gotten in months, so I’ll take it.” Bill Walton: “Marijuana should not be a Schedule 1 drug.” Michelle Beadle: “Get ‘em Bill, get ‘em.” Bill Walton: “And all the people who have been in trouble for it, over all these years. Obama, just blanket amnesty and move on to the future.” Amin Elhassan: “Do you believe in aliens? Bill?” Rachel Nichols: “I feel like that’s a good question for Bill.” Amin Elhassan: “Is it intelligent life? Or do you think they’re just out there on their own planet and they don’t know what they’re doing.” Bill Walton: “Oh, they’re out there. I want to go.” Amin Elhassan: “You want to represent this planet?” Rachel Nichols: “I would have thought you’ve been there already.” Bill Walton: “I have.” Keyshawn Johnson: “Trust me he’s been there. Outer space, up in the sky. He didn’t get there on a space ship either.” Marcellus Wiley: “He might be there right now, you never know.” Bill Walton: “Where’d Jake go?” Amin Elhassan: “Back to his job at State Farm.” Rachel Nichols: “Hey, were still on TV.” Bill Walton: “Why? The game is over. They said start to finish. Did Marcellus go home? Is that his name? I like to get high, not low.”

TOPTREE

E.AGENCY

New Orleans Carnival is besting all your bucket lists, especially now that NOPD is rethinking itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no-chill attitude towards weed

It becomes abundantly clear you are heading for New Orleans when the direct flight from Seattle is interrupted about halfway through by the flight attendant declaring they have sold out of Vodka, Crown Royal and Jack Daniels. February is Carnival season and while Mardi Gras is the headline grabber, the entire month is filled with all the reasons why New Orleans in the best place on Earth. It starts with the Krewes. >>>

Parades are put on by local collectives, social clubs that traverse more miles than FitBit, and they route across the city on different vectors at different times with themes and outfits that make the late Craig Sager look drab. The Red Beans and Rice Parade, Baker High Symphony of Soul by the Krewe of Cork and the infamous Cleopatra Krewe running the St. Charles Street Uptown Route from Mid-City — these “Walking Krewes” hand-make floats out of discarded remnants and feature high school marching bands that turn down for nobody. While the star athlete may be the popular kid in a primary school near you, the teenaged drummers in the Krewes have more groupies than the 5-star recruit. Lil Wayne’s alma mater McMain always shows out, entrepreneurial citizens make mobile convenience stores out of shopping carts to follow the procession and locals recommend finding a spot under the freeway overpasses for better acoustics. New Orleans allows public consumption of adult beverages as long as they are in plastic containers, you can even order a cocktail at the bar, drink half of it, than ask for a “go cup” and take the rest with you into the maze of sultry sidewalks. Just make sure to be polite and extend the customary greeting “thanks much” on your way out the door. "Indulge my inner grandmother as I suggest a few things to keep your Carnival season safe and stress free,” Dan Fox of Antigravity, New Orleans Alternative to Culture Magazine (similar to The Stranger in Seattle) wrote. “One: Don't make plans. Mardi Gras is best enjoyed as a freewheeling activity, and any plans you do make will be summarily destroyed by the Mardi Gras spirits, who will laugh in your face and put you smack dab in the middle of an epic traffic jam — one not just relegated to cars either. Two: Take it easy. Mardi Gras is a time of great negative energy. The crowds, drugs and lights will test your every last nerve. Some will fail that test. Three: When marching band chaperones tell you to step back, STEP BACK." Second lines are shorter routes of mobile musicians without floats and the same degree of pageantry. They run through the French Quarter without much warning for everything from a funeral wake, to wedding celebration to protesting for a $15 minimum wage law. Walk lively and as you “sin, repent, repeat” in the grand tradition of Crescent City find a shady spot on Exchange Place when your feet swell and the dogs start barking. They may be literally barking if you happen to be there during the Mystic Krewe of Barkus Mardi Gras Dog Parade, a scene that makes your local off-leash area on a Saturday look deserted.

Arthur Hardy prints a Mardi Gras Guide that is the definitive text on all the hoopla, and during its 40th anniversary last year he interviewed himself in true oddball NOLA fashion. The Voodoo shops like Marie Laveau’s are a great place to cast a spell for the savior of your liver, take some Gris Gris and Candles by BB back to the domicile and tap in to the essence on your own time. “All the French Quarter is a stage, and all the men and women merely players,” New Orleans writer Robin McDowell states. “By 8 p.m. only young children and those on anti-seizure medication are sober.” Strolling down to the banks of the Mighty Mississippi, past a fraudulent Santa with a collection plate claiming he needs money for “HOs,” you’ll step through A.E. Barnes paintings block after block. Haters will say it’s photoshopped, but New Orleans will tell you otherwise. Café Du Monde and their beignets since 1862 will make amusement park lines look manageable, so do as you please, but if you really want the pastry to give your sweet tooth type-2 diabetes — while also enjoying every minute of it — be about the Dong Phuong’s King Cake instead. For 30 years in NOLA East, a deeply rooted Vietnamese community bakery, has made these treasures. They come in one-size, with or without cream cheese, and cost around $20. They sell out during Carnival but you can call ahead to reserve them. An Uber up Chef Menteur Highway and back will still take less time than standing on that Café Du Monde line. Getting out of the Quarter is key to any visit to NOLA. Make the move to the Garden District up Magazine St. and stop in the Defend NOLA boutique along the way. Take a gander at Jay-Z and Beyonce’s house on a quaint residential side street, or tip-toe through the crypts in Lafayette Cemetery, where no tour guide mafia is shaking your down for $30 to view the gothic headstones. Don’t fall for the new tech charlatans touting buzzed about hot-spots with fire Yelp reviews like Booty’s Blogstaurant (now accepting BitCoin) once lo c a t e d o n D a u p h i n e S t r e e t a n d n o w s e l f proclaimed pioneers of the Bywater neighborhood. “Fawned over by the New York Times travel section as an authentic local place to enjoy #EmpenadasWithSolange serving tiny thumbnail images of actual entrees,” local critic Jules Bentley mentions about Booty’s. “Booty’s upset people because it reinforced a dark and terrible truth: that any random jackass with enough money to burn can literally redefine reality in post-flood New Orleans.” >>>

subsidize police in far flung Parishes are the cause, and in many cases the Sheriffs own the prisons. The Koch Brothers have dumped tons of money into reducing mandator y minimums, through the Charles Koch "Advancing Justice" Institute on reform of mass incarceration. Keep in mind, this came on the heels of scathing reports about Koch oil pipeline’s destruction of wetlands that mitigate storm surges. Then profiting on the recovery effort post-Katrina through “Americans For Prosperity” by lobbying against caps to flood insurance rate increases. The waters get really murking down that way. “Assume you are being filmed wherever you are, whatever you are doing,” Jeff Sallet, Head of NOLA FBI Field Office, is quoted as saying.

From the frayed-edges of Frenchmen St. out through Marigny and Bywater, gentrification has done it’s damnedest to usurp the counter culture but if you want to see what was, and what still is, and what you can’t find anywhere else — look no further. There is Chewbaccus. A sci-fi Carnival parade that last hours, described as “Burning Man driving by your house,” by a local resident with a plastic 40-oz, the God of the Parade is welded from a vintage popcorn cart. Floats feature clever edicts like: “Chewluminati,” “Darth Vegas,” and the “Death Star Was An Inside Job.” Most who walk make their own “throws.” These are the gifts thrown to people watching as the Krewes pass by, and cheap Mardi Gras beads are basic AF for this crowd. Another rule to consider is if you really are down with the local custom, you have to catch what you wear. No picking up beads or other throws off the ground, catch it or keep it movin’. And you don’t need to bare a bosom or butt cheek as the Hollywood depictions would have you believe. Also, you are legally allowed to wear masks during Carnival, a right the people of NOLA have fought for at every turn. “Thanks to the ancient traditions, we are still free to cover our faces from the cameras,” Bentley explains. “More than ever, if we don’t want our biometrics populating some petty despot’s databases, we must have recourse to the mask. Where there is concealment, the digital spies are blind. Masking has long been a controversial component of Mardi Gras. We must build a resistance rooted in the old ways, the wild ways, if we are to enjoy ourselves.” Louisiana incarcerates twenty times more people than Germany. For profit private prisons that

So don’t be fooled by the Weed World vans parked on Governor Nicholls St. in the Treme, minor marijuana possession can still carry a 15-day jail sentence for the first offense. That has been tempered in recent months, and was almost never enforced in the French Quarter since tourism reigned supreme. The deal now is a court summons for minor possession, and if you appear there is a $40 fine issued for 14 grams of marijuana or less on your person. Medical marijuana has happened after overwhelming support from voters but only refined oils have been made available and authorizations are strict in their qualifying conditions. There’s no storefront dispensary retail like there was in Washington State. As of 2011 the walking tour guides that give historical briefings to out-of-towners need a license, and in order to get a license you must submit to a drug test. It is in these ways that weed is still stiff-armed by a bureaucracy that reflects Louisiana’s values, not those of Orleans Parish. Many can remember the HBO series “Treme” where a jazz musician goes to jail for a roach he stamped out when the cops accosted him, and while law enforcement is serious, locals have universally clowned this scene in the HBO series that is generally regarded as inauthentic and cliche — one possible reason it was cancelled in 2013. “If during Katrina a cop actually arrested a jazz performer for smoking weed, he’d be shot on the spot by the multiple guns pointing out the Frenchmen Street windows,” New Orleans writer Steve Barbarino wrote in an editorial for Purple Magazine. There is a historical context to the hatred of marijuana dating back to Louis Armstrong’s birth in 1901. Storyville was a rambunctious par t of town, where Mayor Tom Anderson

negative propaganda and press strategies that would become the boilerplate for the “Reefer Madness” disinformation campaigns by Harry Anslinger and our Federal Government after prohibition of alcohol ended.

lorded over the “Empire of Sin” as the reformers called it. From the opium dens on Basin St. to the “Blue Books” which advertised the harem’s and their ladies working for certain Madams, which the Mayor actually paid to print (you can find originals online for $850 if you’re interested) there was total freedom in this part of town at the turn of the 20th Century.

By 1923 marijuana was officially banned in New Orleans, by 1927 it was banned statewide. This was the first place in America to make weed illegal. By 1933 seventeen other states had followed suit. The pounds of dried flower that reached New Orleans from Mexico would make their way up the Mississippi River to the Midwest, and from there it spread across the map — from sea to shining sea.

Stop by Crescent City Books and pick up one of the David Fullmer titles, or Bellocq’s photo portraits of Storyville sex workers if this era strikes a chord with you. The boarding houses that once sheltered nuns and missionaries were left in disrepair and leased to a young, black audience of Jazz musicians that were cooking up a new sound. These musicians played the downstairs bordellos and worked for the Madams, but all the money flowed back to the archdioceses and the Catholic Church. In 1909, the generally accepted first use of marijuana in the USA, happened in Storyville. “It was in these bordellos, where music provided the background and not the primary focus of attention, that marijuana became an integral part of the jazz era,” Historian Ernest L. Abel wrote. “Unlike booze, which dulled and incapacitated, marijuana enabled musicians whose job required them to play long into the night to forget their exhaustion. Moreover, the drug seemed to make their music sound more imaginative and unique, at least to those who played and listened while under its sensorial influence.' “In the early Twenties, marihuana, muggles, muta, gage, tea, reefer, grifa, Mary Warner, Mary Jane or Rosa Maria was known almost exclusively to musicians,” Historian Harr y Shapiro added. Since this new drug was associated with vice, godlessness and black folks — law enforcement immediately went on the of fensive star ting in 1910. For the next twenty years Government officials used Words by Chernsicle • Photos by Chernsicle, Yas Feiler, & Courtesy of Creative Commons

ISSUE #4

Featuring

Stas Thee Boss, New Orleans, Sleep

Bill Walton, Elisa Moon Wolf Vergara, Neter Sentra