can * nois * seur ( kan' us sur' ), n. one competent to render critical judgement on the qualities and merits of Cannibis.

Surfing on my last J of O. G. Kush, picked up at Grass Roots, i'm a tad contemplative. The bud is tight and contained like a fast-moving wave that will keep you in the curl for hours until you float back to the beach.
And here i sit drifting back to those halcyon days when we were about to inherit the world...


Hello Broadway

In late fall of '61 i married Joan in a Universalist ceremony that included a Miles Davis soundtrack and a gaggle of squealing college girls who drank too much wine at the party.
Joan continued to attend class while i worked on The Great American Novel. One day Joan returned from school with good news. A Broadway show doing a Boston tryout ( traditional in those days ) put out a casting call for extras. Joan was selected at the munificent sum of $8 a night ( *not bad when you consider apartments went for $60 a month. My pal, photographer and world-class Jewish wiseguy, Robert Gilman had a nifty place in the Italian North End for $25 a month )
On the second night of the play's run i went to pick Joan up after the performance. My deep summer tan and long, dark hair (long gone) obviously connected with the producers. As i walked down the aisle of the empty theatre one of them called out "You must be here for the part".
Being a quick-thinking youth i replied "yes i am". And so i joined the cast of A Passage To India by Santha Rama Rau based on the book by E. M. Forster.
The first week was fun. We were in a real production.The extras had been basically hired to populate a crowded courtroom scene. We all wore Indian costumes and mumbled. Then one day a telegram arrived at my door. It was from the producers asking me to be at the theatre early.
What happened was that one of the contract extras (note the pecking order ) had to leave the show due to a death in the family. Could i take the part and perhaps go to New York with the show?
Could i?
Before the curtain went up they showed me what to do. There were no lines but i did have a bit in the third act where i was tossed bodily out of the courtroom by mistake. If i did it right i could get a laugh.
We appeared in the show for two weeks and then were offered the much hoped-for invitation to go with the show to Broadway.
You may recall most of my possessions were lost in those fires (two-urban planning) and Joan was in school so we didn't have much to pack. Among my belongings was a hand-painted Hookah which Ralph Pine had given me as a wedding present and my leather pig.
We went to New York in two special rail cars reserved for the cast. Contract extras and featured players in one, Stars in the other. Most of the actors were either British or Indian and extremely gracious. We were shy but they went out of their way to make us feel comfortable.
The caste system is one side of show biz, the wonderful camaraderie another. We were all traveling players fretting our brief moments on stage...or in this case, brief months of employment.
So we returned to New York in tarnished glory. We got first-class passage and a had a job when we arrived. All we needed now was an apartment.
In those days the area to find a cheap place was the Lower East Side now the East Village. In those days the vestiges of the Eastern European immigrants were strongly in place. There was a Deli in my neighborhood that would cut you a pound of rich butter from a barrel. The Yiddish theatre was still active. On some blocks all you heard was Ukranian.
Since i was now a Broadway actor i decided to go top dollar and rented a studio on Ninth Street and Avenue C for $80 a month.
My next move was to call Ann, a lady i had met during a wild party on Symphony Road, and
score some boo. And did i score. For $20 i received an ounce of primo herb that i still recall as one of the best vintages ever.
And so began the Broadway Run....

Suggested Theatre: August: Osage County

Suggested Film: District 9