THE EVIL WEED

      Lolita: The view from up in this gigantic tree is amazing. Send our friends up to me and I’ll ask them to tell me a story that involves pot. Hey Dave! See if you can get as high as I am. DAVE PINO (Powerman 5000): When I was in high school I used to sell tape cassette cases packed with joints. It was awesome because teachers just thought my friends and I were trading music. *** DAVID AVERY (Powderfinger Promotions): When I was 16 my buddies took me fishing, and to my surprise, smoking. At first it was fun, but then we wanted to catch the flying ducks flying with our fishing lines. One of my friends accidentally snagged the other in the chest with the three fishhooks. When half his chest skin was ripped off and gushing blood, it became much less fun very quickly. In retrospect it seems funny, but then, we were all convinced that he was going to die and that our parents would probably kill the survivors. Fortunately, we all lived, though some with less chest hair than others. *** KAREN DiBIASSE (Girl On Top): One time Dave and his friends had two pounds [of pot] under the front seat of his old Dodge Challenger. Someone hit them from behind, and sent the car into a 180-degree spin. All of a sudden local police from Medford, Malden, Saugus, and state police surrounded them.  Dave and his friends were shittin’ bricks thinking they’re going to jail for life as the other driver approached their window. He was a cop and apologized for hitting them.  He told them to be careful; they were looking for a felon—that’s why there were so many cops around. *** ANDERSON MAR (Dark Sky Productions/NE PGM Fest): The funniest pot related story I can recall was when my Deadhead friend John, who had a bit of a “green thumb” so to speak, called me in the middle of the night in tears because his Maine coon cats had eaten every single one of his pot plants that he’d been tending diligently for months. I wonder if the cats had a serious case of the munchies thereafter? *** DAVE BALERNA (The Midway): We were having an event at the Midway when a local drug dealer ran through the club with the cops in tow. They ended up arresting him but never found his stash of cheeb—but we did.  Community policing—you got to love it. *** WALTER SICKERT (…& The Army of Broken Toys): Two years ago I lost a great friend to cancer. It was the fifth time in his life that it had returned. Being only 23, cancer had followed him his whole life. After scores of strong legal drugs pumped in to him, there was nothing that would let him eat and gain weight, and nothing to stop the pains and aches—nothing, except his baby blue two-foot glass bong. Pot gave him hope, acceptance, and the ability to eat a cheeseburger and not puke. Eventually he lost the use of his hand, but his friends were there to pack and spark and we had many wonderful days before we lost him. SO WHY THE FUCK IS IT ILLEGAL?? *** AJ WACHTEL (Boston Now): When Mickey O was booking Bunratty’s 20 years ago, he introduced me to a grey haired man with a young blond on his arm at the Beat around 3:00 am. There were drugs all over the place. I asked the man where he knew Mickey from; did he own a bar? They laughed and he pulled out his badge. He was an undercover cop. Soon after, the officer walks into Bun’s, pulls me into the waitress station, and says “I just pulled over a kid driving and he had this... and I thought of you,” and he tosses me a baggie with about an ounce of grass. Boston’s finest—supporting my drug habit. *** CHRIS PEARSON (Ekranoplan/ x-Green Magnet School): Recently a member of Spacemen 3 played the Middle East and my pals [names withheld for legal reasons] offered to get him baked.  We were in the alley behind the club, smoking the kind bud and conversing about the difference between U.K. and U.S. drug laws when lo and behold, Sonic whipped out these packs of methadone pills from his man purse, about 25 boxes or so, which would have quite a bit of value on the grey market. I honestly wondered how the hell he got that amount of dope through customs.  It was truly a surreal moment. *** LIZ BORDEN (The Liz Borden Band/ WAAF): I have many stories about pot. One is from my childhood and my mother reminded me of this story. She was trying to get me interested in other activities as a child in addition to music. She supported the music thing but thought I should have a few other interests. She tried horseback riding, painting, etc. and then she said one day I found my niche—gardening and taking care of my houseplants. She said I would take such good care of them and she was so proud. Until she took a closer look at the plants once they grew a bit. Then she knew why. *** CHUCK U. ROSINA (WMFO/ WMBR): You want me to tell you a story that involves pot? But pot makes you spacey and forgetful, so how am I supposed to remember a story? A good example is this year’s annual Freedom Rally which calls for the legalization of pot.  It took place on Boston Common on 9/15. But I am such a spaceshot, I thought it was 9/22, and booked myself for out of town work the weekend of 9/15. I usually cover this event for local radio news. To make matters more embarrassing, this year MassCann (the sponsoring organization) gave out awards.  I received the Best Indy Radio Personality award, but wasn’t even there to receive it!  Lolita: Congratulations! I hope you eventually got your award. They are real nifty looking modern trophies. We were surprised to receive one for best local magazine. It’s the first award we’ve received since Curve of the Earth gave us a Curvie (an orange eight track tape cartridge with sloppy handwriting on it) award for Best Zine, Longest Running Zine, and Best Band Featuring Publisher (Max).  *** LINDA VIENS (Angeline/ Cosmic-Trigger):  A couple of years ago. I was smoking a lot of killer weed with my main crew in Woodstock, New York.  The six of us spent the entire day wearing these gigantic, fake teeth that we purchased. We asked people for directions, stopped people on the street, shopped at the grocery store, and bought movie tickets. We were in hysterics every time we watched another interaction in public. Pot encourages us to be unafraid and to be ridiculous at times. That is why I still love it sooo much! *** JOE COUGHLIN (The Noise): Providence Civic Center, Blue Oyster Cult, ’70s. Lit up a joint and this hairy bastard next to me says, “Gimme one of those.” Not, “Can I have a hit?” or even “Got any for sale?” I ignore him. He gets up and knocks my hat off. I step into the aisle and call him out. He suckers me hard, and I go rolling down the stairs full-speed from about three-quarters up in the loge all the way down to the floor. He gets away, but BOC was great, and my high-school sweetie thought my massive shiner was kinda bitchin’ the next day. *** SIMON RITT (The Darlings): This is a trick question, right? Lolita: Trick? You’ll have to meet me after hours for that. And bring a lot of money.