From Weird To Worse

A Tragedy of Errors

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

"The most amazing property of cannabis is its ability to fog the minds of those who don't use it."

Heads Up: Since my last post, things have truly gone from weird to worse on the Bay area cannabis scene. The Feds, in their infinite, self righteous, wisdom, saw fit to raid Oaksterdam University, an educational center devoted to the art of botanical excellence in the cultivation of the God-given herb. Meanwhile just as an IRS swat team trashed and seized the school's property, less than a mile away at Oakland's Oikos University, a gunman killed seven staff and students and wounded three others. (i think that tragic fact warrants a bit of highlight.) Exactly what social good comes from a fascist type raid on what is basically a medical center? And at what cost to the taxpayers? Isn't that time and money better spent protecting innocent victims from rampaging gunmen? If i seem a bit shrill it's because the mind boggles at the sheer stupidity and waste of resources. Melinda Haag, US Attorney for this district has waged a mean spirited campaign against medical cannabis at the expense of her sworn duty...to protect society from real criminals--from hate killers and gun runners, to elected embezzlers. This is about MEDICINE Melinda. Remember sweetness, God appeared to Moses in a burning bush...

The Pilgrim's Progress:1969

About the same time i was leaving Bantam Books to be a copywriter for the Waterman Advertising Agency, my novel was accepted, pending some rewrite. Advertising copy is quite different than book jacket hype. i learned to be more conceptual. One of my favorites was a line for a dashing trench coat photo that went "Don't talk about your past--wear it." However the agency business was slightly to the left of Mad Men, a well dressed mosh pit of misplaced ambition. i much preferred the courteous literary logic of publishing--and i missed books. Having left Bantam with a great rep, i soon received a lucrative offer from Pyramid Books to be their copy chief and i jumped at it. At this point i was making a good deal more than my probation officer, a miserable thug who had actually gone to my college (Manhattan) but boola boola meant nothing to him. So he kept me on the string for regular visits despite my obvious reformation. Pyramid Publishing was interesting in that i became aware of the huge market in Christian directed books. They had a deal with an outfit called Zondervan that published The Cross and the Switchblade, a huge megaseller that never showed up on any lists. Hovering under the radar, Zonderman is a massive force in publishing to this day. From Pyramid i was recruited by Paperback Library as "Creative Editor" meaning i would conceive of books that should be on the market then hire writers to make them real. Actually a great job with fine people including Susan Jacobson, a peppy New York editor. The company was owned by Hy Steirman, who had scored bigtime by securing the book rights to the immensely popular daytime vampire serial Dark Shadows. He also had a series of books (these were the Sixties) starring a James Bond spinoff named Rod something who had a severe priapic condition. meaning he had a constant erection. These titles paid the rent and then some. Hy had also been publisher of a magazine called Confidential, a Murdoch type muckraker that looked under the bedsheets of celebrities' private lives. Hy kept a photo in his safe that purportedly showed Marlon Brando going down on some dude but the picture was too blurry and dark to be certain who was doing what. Paperback Library was a fine experience and i was able to help many writers find a platform ( including my mentor H.B. Gilmour). However my biggest coup by far was getting on the New York Mets miracle run for the pennant in 1969. i decided early that win or lose it was a great story. We contracted NY Post sportswriter Maury Allen to do the project and one week after the Mets won the World series we had a book on the stands. Shades of Cary Grant and Roz Russell in His Girl Friday. i kept creating original paperbacks until the time my probation period was successfully over, and my first novel Doctor Orient was due to be published. Rather than play it safe i decided to leave Paperback Library and New York, and take a Yugoslavian freighter to Tangier to write my second novel.

Next: The Dawn of the Seventies

Suggested Reading: The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Micheal Chabon

Suggested Download: Lady Sativa by Frank Lauria (Ereads, Amazon, Google etc.)