Happy Super Bowl Sunday 2014!

My prediction?

When Cough Medicine Was Cough Medicine

Happy 420!

Today is 420 Day (aka Stoner New Year)

On 4/20 and especially at 4:20 PM, millions of people around the world smoke a much maligned, but fairly innocuous sticky green herb that relaxes people, reduces depression and boosts appetite.

I've smoked pot for nearly 30 years and compared to all other recreational substances (including alcohol), marijuana is the most benign. Today, there are synthetic and far more dangerous drugs easily available, such as bath salts and K2 that make marijuana, for all the reefer madness rhetoric about it that some STILL believe, appear as innocent as milk and cookies.

There's a growing awareness in even the most rigidly conservative states that marijuana isn't as bad as previously thought. (Even Mississippi decriminalized marijuana.) And with the onslaught of crystal meth and these new synthetic drugs and with a nation deep in debt and unable to sustain an abysmally failing war on drugs, something's got to give.  

People in Washington State and Colorado have a LOT to be grateful for today. I couldn't have asked for a better night than November 6, 2012. Not only my birthday, but Washington State and Colorado did the once politically unthinkable; they legalized the recreational use of marijuana.

They had to eventually. I knew it would happen in my lifetime. But I was about 10 years off. Who could have known it would have been voted for in near landslides in two states?  

But first.....

You toke the green hit buddy......

Marijuana wasn't always illegal. In fact, there were NO laws against marijuana whatsoever until the early 20th century. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew and used marijuana. Marijuana was used for treating everything from asthma to pain relief (It doesn't actually relieve pain, but it does take the edge off it.)

Doctor recommended......

Here's the ultimate playlist for your 420 holiday:

"The Great Smoke Off" Shel Silverstein (The One To Play at 4:20 PM)
"Legalize It" Peter Tosh
"Sweet Leaf" Black Sabbath
"Pass The Marijuana" Sublime
"You're A Viper"  Stuff Smith and his Onyx Club Boys
"Smoke Two Joints" The Toyes/Sublime
"Gimmie A Reefer" Bessie Smith
"Hits From The Bong" Cypress Hill
"Don't Step On The Grass, Sam" Steppenwolf

“You Don't Know How It Feels” Tom Petty
"Natural Mystic" Bo Marley
"High" Feeder
"Don't Bogart Me" Fraternity Of Man/Little Feat
"Hash Pipe" Weezer
"Wildwood Weed" Jim Stafford
"Because I Got High" Afroman
"Stoned Soul Picnic" The Fifth Dimension

“Comfortably Numb” Pink Floyd
"Too Rolling Stoned" Robin Trower
"Marijuana In Your Brain" Lords Of Acid
"Four And Twenty Hours" Nana Mouskouri
"Pass The Dutchie" Musical Youth
"Texas Tea Party" Benny Goodman
"M.V. (Marijuana)" Nirvana
"Rainy Day Women 12 & 35" Bob Dylan
"Who Got The Hooch" Everything
"Champagne and Reefer" BB King
"Along Comes Mary" The Association
"Mary Jane" Rick James
"And It Stoned Me" Van Morrison
"Save The Roach For Me" Buck Washington
"My Name Is Bud" NOFX
"Muggles" Louis Armstrong
"Smokin'" Boston
"Billy Bardo" Johnny Paycheck
"The Ganja Man" Lee "Scratch" Perry
"Homegrown" Neil Young
"I Got Stoned And I Missed It" Dr. Hook
"Seeds and Stems (Again)" Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen
"Reefer Man" Cab Calloway
"One Toke Over The Line" Brewer & Shipley
"That Cat Is High" Manhattan Transfer
"Burn One Down" Ben Harper
"The Devil Went To Jamaica" Travis Meyer
"420" Kottonmouth Kings
"Panama Red" New Riders of The Purple Sage
"Cheeba Cheeba" Tone Loc
"Hash Cake '77" Hawkwind
"Roll Another Number" Neil Young
"White Punks On Dope" The Tubes
"Let's Go Get Stoned" Ray Charles
"Insane In The Brain" Cypress Hill
"The Thoughts Of Mary Jane" Nick Drake
"Marijuanaville" Tenacious D
"Puff The Magic Dragon" Peter, Paul & Mary
"And She Was" Talking Heads
"Copperhead Road" Steve Earle
"Tomorrow Never Knows" Beatles
"There She Goes" Sixpence None The Richer/The La's
"Are You Experienced" Jimi Hendrix
"Last Dance With Mary Jane" Tom Petty
"Bong Hits For Breakfast" Staind
"Heaven Is A Halfpipe" OPM
"Marijuana" Phish
"Marrakesh Express" Crosby Stills & Nash
"Smokin' In The Boys Room" Brownsville Station/Motley Crue
"What If God Smoked Cannabis" Bob Rivers

“Kaya” Bob Marley

“The Joker” Steve Miller Band

“Sinsemilla” Black Uhuru

“Let's Go Smoke Some Pot” Dash Rip Rock

“Captain Jack” Billy Joel

“Got To Get You Into My Life” The Beatles

“Little Green Bag” George Baker Selection

"Marijuana Australiana” The Layabouts

“Lady Jane” Rolling Stones

Halloween Hits: "Monster Hash" The Toyes (1993)

For those in serious need of Visine and Twinkies..........

Bob Marley & The Wailers: Early Music

Here's a nifty little compilation of some of Bob Marley & The Wailer's earliest recordings (with Peter Tosh.) Released in 1977 as Bob Marley was making his mark on American FM rock stations and people everywhere were discovering this strange new music called "reggae". Whereas back then, punk was loud, fast and snotty, reggae was the mellow, laid back stuff your stoner next door neighbour played loudly on his stereo every Sunday morning.

While on the surface, this might look like your typical major label budget compilation (Calla was the hard funk/Caribbean music imprint of CBS Records) to cash in on a big trend by reissuing a current superstar's early material, this album is surprisingly well mastered with some instantly catchy tunes ("Wings Of A Dove", "I'm Still Waiting") and excellent liner notes on the back cover.

On this one, you hear more of a '60s soul influence (these sessions were recorded in the late '60s, before Marley's more rock-influenced Island albums in the '70s that made him a superstar) and Bob Marley could have easily scored a few '60s US hits if CBS were actively looking in Jamaica for exciting new music. Which they weren't (NOBODY outside of Island and a few specialty labels were doing that.) These recordings are reissued material Bob Marley & The Wailers recorded for New World Disc Records. It's a necessary companion to Bob Marley's greatest hits album Legend.
And the perfect soundtrack for a Sunday morning.....