--THERE ARE MORE STARS THAN ANYONE COULD NEED

…Last year $2.7 billion was spent on legal marijuana in the US. 

That’s a lot of smoke.

Still pot seems to retain an illicit or taboo label, even though here in Washington State where it’s considered no different than alcohol.

Last week, I went with  my best friend to a pot store in Vancouver.  I forget the name of the place but the experience was pretty surreal. 

We arrived at 9:20 on a Saturday morning and there was a line out the door.

Inside, the place was sterile, with bleach-white walls reminiscent of a hospital, with a similar eerie stillness to it.

Everything was very professional and felt discreet.  There was plenty of staff on hand.  The space was about 10,000 square feet, yet it was very angular. 

You entered in one corridor, took a turn and then went down another which opened up into a bigger space with two very long glass counters on either side.  Every few feet, on top of the counters, were iPad-type devices where you could scroll through the various strains, of which there were more than 500.  Each strain was articulately described, much the same way wine is.  You picked out your selection by tapping your thumb on a book, typed in your first name, journeyed to another section, gave your name, paid, walked a few feet and picked up your goods.
It was as easy as buying a pack of gum.

Our particular purchase was called Blue Cheese.

The pot wasn’t for us.

Really, it wasn’t...

…Bumbershoot is coming soon.  I’ve went a couple of times.    When I was last there with my son, we were standing in a very long line waiting to see Wiz Kalif and McLemore.  A circle of eighteen year olds (if they were even that) passed around a gallon of Captain Morgan rum and one of the girls fainted.  My son caught on the fall, saving her from splitting her head open.  I looked around and realized with the exception of one lifeless security guard, I was at least twenty years older than the oldest person within sight.

Still I’m going to go again this year.  I want to see The Airborne Toxic Event.

Here are some other bands playing that I’ve never heard of, but that have clever names:

Childbirth

Talk in Tongues

Epik High

Flosstradamus

Tracksuit Wdding

Moon Hooch

The Floozies

Grizzled Mighty

Nacho Picasso

The Bots

Bread & Butter

Cambodian Space Project

Constant Lovers

Lil Dicky

Deep Creep

Minus The Bear

Misterwives

Smash Putt

Gentlemen Take Polaroids

Beware of the Dandelions

Fly Moon Royalty

Acid Tongue

The Milk Carton Kids

The Tallest Man On Earth

Pure Bathing Culture

…So it’s Wednesday and here a few other things I like midweek:

  “What causes laughter is the sudden transformation of tense expectation into nothing.” Kant

“Let all flowers wither like a party.” John Berryman

“I hope we never lose sight of one thing—it was all started by a mouse.” Walt Disney