Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Close to Home — What it’s like on the street where you live
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Gonzo Report: Abundance and acceptance at Cannival
Music, games, and lots and lots of marijuana
Jasmin Rose at the first-ever Cannival
My first writing credit came when I was 10 years old. I’d won the D.A.R.E. essay contest, in part by vowing to McGruff, the cartoon Crime Dog, to never touch a drug or take a drink of alcohol. Standing in front of a gymnasium full of community leaders, police, parents, peers, and teachers, I nervously read the essay into a center-stage microphone. Thinking back, I sure could’ve used a toke to take the edge off. But at ten years old, my connections were limited. Now, 30 years later, weed connections are hardly necessary. Scoring pot is as easy as walking into an Apple store and snagging a new phone. (If you ask me, many dispensaries actually have the feeling of cell phone kiosks.)
As long as it's legal, can McGruff really object?
On marijuana’s national holiday of 4/20, marijuana enthusiasts were invited to join an event called Cannival hosted by the Do You Even Smoke? promotions. The event was connected to Golden State Greens dispensary in Point Loma. Happily, this particularly party did not have that kiosk feeling.
Seventy-eight-year-old Gary, and his gal of similar age, Dennise, never thought marijuana would be legalized in their lifetimes. I asked if I could snap a picture. Gary looked at Dennise, then back at me. With a cheesing grin, he said, “Why not!” He wrapped an arm around Dennise, and the senior stoners were caught on camera — but in today’s accepting society, it ain’t no sweat. And I can’t imagine how much street cred they’ll be getting from their grandkids.
They lived to see the day!
Guests were given two pre-rolled joints upon entry. Vendors had their tables lined up, each bearing jars upon jars of glowing green nuggets. In the indoor spaces, smoke hung and clung to over 1500 people. The one thing noticeably not present was alcohol. “The younger generation coming up isn’t drinking as much,” Gary noted, holding up a joint. “This is much better.” He and Dennise shuffled off shortly after that. “Have a nice life,” Dennise said to me as they disappeared around a corner.
As with alcohol, it's best not to drive while under the influence. Have you ever been stuck at a stop sign for ten minutes, waiting for it to turn green, with the person behind you laying on their horn? It’s still red, dude! What do you want me to do? Or ever thought you were being pulled over by a street sweeper? Everyone just be cool.
The thing about marijuana and music is that they dance together harmoniously, no matter what the genre. The high mind will usually connect with notes, whether they're softly emanating from a piano or shredding forth from a guitar. But maybe that’s just me. The Cannival fest featured mostly DJs and rappers. The afternoon sunlight streamed into the smoked-out room onto a small stage. The first act, Jasmin Rose, opened up by performing her “music for spiritual baddies.” I fired up one of my door doobies and watched. Then somebody passed me another lit joint and walked away. This was after I had purchased a five-dollar gram from one of the vendors. The weed supply was quickly adding up.
Not long after that, I ran into the event’s organizer, Jeffrey Knight. He gifted me about ten more jays, then ran to the stage to referee the joint rolling competition. The contest was simple: six participants were given a gram of weed to roll into a tight marijuana cigarette. The first one to finish first would be declared the winner. The prize was a beautifully crafted glass bong. When the whistle blew, each of the competitors calmly began breaking apart their nuggets, dropping them into regulation-sized rolling papers. In under a minute, the winner was declared. The champ lit his award-winning doob and hoisted his new glass trophy. Meanwhile, packaged THC vape pens were being passed around. I ended up with two of them. The growing amount of weed erupting from my pockets was a symbol of acceptance in abundance.
Rollin', rollin', rollin', keep those doobies rollin'...
Before leaving, I made sure to catch hip-hopper Bolo Lomeli’s set. By this time, I’d taken in enough firsthand and secondhand pot smoke to tranquilize a young elephant. When one guy from across the room detected a moment that I didn’t have any smoke going into my face, he took immediate action. “Hey man, I haven’t seen you smoke all day,” he said. Then he handed me two more joints. I showed him the collection I accumulated throughout the day, but he wasn’t having it and asked that I take his gift. “Throw it on the pile,” I thought.
After the smoke cleared and everyone began to leave, Jeffrey Knight had some words to close things out. “Glad everyone had an amazing time. Seemed like they did, and it’s going to be the start of something great. Somebody has to have the balls to fucking break down the barriers to get through and let it be known that we are a nice, chill community that can go out and have fun, and then go home and chill out with no drama. We’re an asset to the community. Not a liability.” Tell that to McGruff the Crime Dog.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Gonzo Report: Abundance and acceptance at Cannival
Music, games, and lots and lots of marijuana
Gonzo Report: Abundance and acceptance at Cannival
Music, games, and lots and lots of marijuana
Jasmin Rose at the first-ever Cannival
My first writing credit came when I was 10 years old. I’d won the D.A.R.E. essay contest, in part by vowing to McGruff, the cartoon Crime Dog, to never touch a drug or take a drink of alcohol. Standing in front of a gymnasium full of community leaders, police, parents, peers, and teachers, I nervously read the essay into a center-stage microphone. Thinking back, I sure could’ve used a toke to take the edge off. But at ten years old, my connections were limited. Now, 30 years later, weed connections are hardly necessary. Scoring pot is as easy as walking into an Apple store and snagging a new phone. (If you ask me, many dispensaries actually have the feeling of cell phone kiosks.)
As long as it's legal, can McGruff really object?
On marijuana’s national holiday of 4/20, marijuana enthusiasts were invited to join an event called Cannival hosted by the Do You Even Smoke? promotions. The event was connected to Golden State Greens dispensary in Point Loma. Happily, this particularly party did not have that kiosk feeling.
Seventy-eight-year-old Gary, and his gal of similar age, Dennise, never thought marijuana would be legalized in their lifetimes. I asked if I could snap a picture. Gary looked at Dennise, then back at me. With a cheesing grin, he said, “Why not!” He wrapped an arm around Dennise, and the senior stoners were caught on camera — but in today’s accepting society, it ain’t no sweat. And I can’t imagine how much street cred they’ll be getting from their grandkids.
They lived to see the day!
Guests were given two pre-rolled joints upon entry. Vendors had their tables lined up, each bearing jars upon jars of glowing green nuggets. In the indoor spaces, smoke hung and clung to over 1500 people. The one thing noticeably not present was alcohol. “The younger generation coming up isn’t drinking as much,” Gary noted, holding up a joint. “This is much better.” He and Dennise shuffled off shortly after that. “Have a nice life,” Dennise said to me as they disappeared around a corner.
As with alcohol, it's best not to drive while under the influence. Have you ever been stuck at a stop sign for ten minutes, waiting for it to turn green, with the person behind you laying on their horn? It’s still red, dude! What do you want me to do? Or ever thought you were being pulled over by a street sweeper? Everyone just be cool.
The thing about marijuana and music is that they dance together harmoniously, no matter what the genre. The high mind will usually connect with notes, whether they're softly emanating from a piano or shredding forth from a guitar. But maybe that’s just me. The Cannival fest featured mostly DJs and rappers. The afternoon sunlight streamed into the smoked-out room onto a small stage. The first act, Jasmin Rose, opened up by performing her “music for spiritual baddies.” I fired up one of my door doobies and watched. Then somebody passed me another lit joint and walked away. This was after I had purchased a five-dollar gram from one of the vendors. The weed supply was quickly adding up.
Not long after that, I ran into the event’s organizer, Jeffrey Knight. He gifted me about ten more jays, then ran to the stage to referee the joint rolling competition. The contest was simple: six participants were given a gram of weed to roll into a tight marijuana cigarette. The first one to finish first would be declared the winner. The prize was a beautifully crafted glass bong. When the whistle blew, each of the competitors calmly began breaking apart their nuggets, dropping them into regulation-sized rolling papers. In under a minute, the winner was declared. The champ lit his award-winning doob and hoisted his new glass trophy. Meanwhile, packaged THC vape pens were being passed around. I ended up with two of them. The growing amount of weed erupting from my pockets was a symbol of acceptance in abundance.
Rollin', rollin', rollin', keep those doobies rollin'...
Before leaving, I made sure to catch hip-hopper Bolo Lomeli’s set. By this time, I’d taken in enough firsthand and secondhand pot smoke to tranquilize a young elephant. When one guy from across the room detected a moment that I didn’t have any smoke going into my face, he took immediate action. “Hey man, I haven’t seen you smoke all day,” he said. Then he handed me two more joints. I showed him the collection I accumulated throughout the day, but he wasn’t having it and asked that I take his gift. “Throw it on the pile,” I thought.
After the smoke cleared and everyone began to leave, Jeffrey Knight had some words to close things out. “Glad everyone had an amazing time. Seemed like they did, and it’s going to be the start of something great. Somebody has to have the balls to fucking break down the barriers to get through and let it be known that we are a nice, chill community that can go out and have fun, and then go home and chill out with no drama. We’re an asset to the community. Not a liability.” Tell that to McGruff the Crime Dog.
Comments