INTERESTING TIMES

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 do not use it."

Future Shock
With the dawn of the Post-Truth Era on January 20th one of the many items on the table is the legalization and decriminalization of Cannabis.  Certainly the economic realities are there. But zealous conservatives have never been above cutting their own throat--and ours--to make some     self-righteous point.
Or--they may very well say, let the degenerates have their evil weed while we drink martinis, collect those cannabis taxes and steal democracy from those dumb passive stoners.
As you know an old Chinese curse states "may you live in interesting times". Well we have gone from Interesting to Swiftian to downright Orwellian times.
We all know what's happening. The freedom of the press, other basic constitutional rights are all up for grabs by the most  dangerous political gang in the USA.
Hey baby--that's the way it is.
Rather than lament hard-assed reality right thinking Cannoisseurs  (and the limp Democratic Party) need to get off the damn couch and start beating the drums for 2018 elections like the Tea Party did after Obama's first win.
We've all had it good until now but in the immortal words of the Beastie Boys: "You got to fight for your right to party"
Do not go gently into the new Dark Ages.  

Pot Shots:  
At the moment both the Bloom Room, 471 Jessie Street SF at Mint Plaza and Medithrive (415 562 6334) have several fine strains at decent prices. My current fav is Medithrive's Hazy Train Littles at $35 the eighth.

1974: The Trophy Year
Is anybody ready for a dream come true?
With the appearance of Raga Six on various bestseller lists, life shifted into a higher gear. Suddenly i was invited to hip parties which was a big change from no parties at all. My circle of friends expanded exponentially. Doors opened. My phone kept ringing with good news. An editor from Playboy's new magazine Qui  contacted me about doing a piece for them.
I pitched an unusual premise: while in Tangier i had heard about a man who was one of world's leading sadists. This title by dint of his powerful position in New York's art world. Mind you this was '74 when the sexual revolution was just beginning to emerge from the relative innocence of the'60s to major experimentation but S/M was still underground and somewhat frowned upon even by The Happy Hooker. THH had a column in Hustler where she answered letters and disapproved of queries that concerned spanking and such. Later when she realized there were a lot of kinks out there in the Bible Belt she retracted her statement and was born again into the joys of SMBD.
So my decision to interview this man (i had a mutual friend connection) was considered both far out...and suspicious.
Me? I was fascinated by the subculture, the secretive nature of the SM network.
Six years later Al Pacino would star in Cruising, a film set in the those underground gay bars scattered around the meat district (now a most posh hood).
But in '74 i was ready to explore this new world and perhaps use it as background for my next Doctor Orient novel.
And i intended to write the interview in a new journalistic style, as championed by Norman Mailer and Tom Wolfe. This rookie was primed for the big time.
Or so i thought...

Next: Reality Sandwich

Highly Recommended: La LaLand

Edited by Robert Gilman