Whether you agree with it or not, today is a special holiday that has been going on for 30+ years and I pay great homage to today because of all the songs that have been created with the help of some good old mary-jane. The infamous 4/20 began in San Rafael, California in 1971 when teens would gather after school at 4:20pm to smoke at the Louis Pasteur statue at San Rafael High School. These groups of kids called themselves the "Waldos" because members would hang out by a wall after school. Writer Ryan Grim interviewed these Waldos who claimed that they met at 4:20pm by the statue to begin a search for a crop of abandoned cannabis growing near Point Reyes that they heard about, but they never found the stash. So in honor of those Waldos, the entire pothead world dedicates today to their failed attempt. Our own president Abraham Lincoln was known for his past use of cannabis and wrote that one of his favorite things was "smoking a pipe of sweet hemp".
When I was looking at colleges, I chose most of them based on whether they had my major (music industry studies), affordable and located in a music city. But there was one college that I would go to in a heartbeat if none of those applied....The University of Colorado at Boulder. It is the most beautiful college, in my opinion, and I absolutely love the Colorado mountains. However, I did not know that CU Boulder was the biggest pothead school in the nation. In fact, I just recently found out that they have an annual 4/20 celebration on campus. With attendance of 10,000+, CU Boulder's celebration of the hopeful legalization of marijuana is one of the largest such celebrations in the U.S. The University police have tried different methods to prevent the gather but the crowds continue to increase every year. Take a peak:
I saw the Easy Star All-Stars last Wednesday at the House of Blues. If you don't know them, they're a reggae band that cover Pink Floyd, Radiohead and The Beatles. Their album titles for these covers are "Dub Side Of The Moon" and "Radiodread"....clever. Listen to how they play "Money" by Pink Floyd....especially the intro and what they use to exchange the cash register noises in the original.
Anyways, I've had this playlist in the making for quite some time....hopefully it can be put to good use today. Some people are very picky about their cannabis jams - they like just reggae or think reggae is too cliche. Personally, I like to mix it up. Led Zeppelin is a must, but some of this playlist (at least in the beginning) is geared toward a more "trippier" experience with songs like "Drippy Eye" or anything by Animal Collective. The first song is simply there for thematic purposes. Overall, I like the diversity and hope you will too.
Enjoy:
P.S.
No 4/20 day would be complete without some words of wisdom from our friend Towelie:
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