"Bertha, Birthdays, and Cannabis: A Time-Traveling Adventure" Larry Michigan from Michigan Law in Chicago sets the stage for a time-traveling journey back 46 years to the Carter Court on the campus of the University of Oregon. Larry shares his excitement for an upcoming show and invites listeners to join him on a musical adventure.
"Bertha, Birthdays, and Cannabis: A Time-Traveling Adventure"
Larry Michigan from Michigan Law in Chicago sets the stage for a time-traveling journey back 46 years to the Carter Court on the campus of the University of Oregon. Larry shares his excitement for an upcoming show and invites listeners to join him on a musical adventure.
As the episode unfolds, Larry delves into a Grateful Dead classic, "Minglewood Blues," providing historical context and anecdotes about its significance in the band's repertoire. He then shifts gears to reminisce about a memorable performance in Michigan in 1995 and discusses the origins of the song, originally recorded in 1928 by Noah Lewis.
The podcast takes an unexpected turn as Larry reflects on the magic of Dead concerts, the unique energy of live performances, and the timeless appeal of traditional songs. He shares personal experiences, including stories from concerts in the '80s and '90s, emphasizing the communal spirit and energy that defined those moments.
Larry briefly discusses his encounter with Kelly Clarkson's unexpected cover of Radiohead's "Creep," expressing admiration for her talent and the transformative power of unexpected musical renditions. He also touches upon his anticipation for the upcoming Fish Fest in Delaware, sharing the excitement of attending with his son and friends.
The episode closes with a celebration of the iconic Grateful Dead opener, "Bertha." Larry expresses his love for the song, describing it as always happy, uplifting, and a perfect show opener. He shares some historical facts about "Bertha" and reminisces about its unique charm in different concert settings.
In essence, this episode captures the essence of the Deadhead Cannabis Show – a blend of nostalgic reflections, musical insights, and the anticipation of upcoming live events. Larry's storytelling style engages listeners, creating a sense of shared experiences within the Deadhead community. Whether discussing classic tunes or unexpected cover songs, the podcast provides a delightful journey for both Deadheads and cannabis enthusiasts alike.
Key Themes:
Episode Highlights:
Closing Note: This episode masterfully weaves together music, personal anecdotes, and anticipation for future events, creating a dynamic and engaging experience for listeners. The blend of nostalgia, humor, and shared enthusiasm for the Grateful Dead and live music showcases the unique charm of the "Deadhead Cannabis Show."
LARRY'S NOTES
Grateful Dead
January 22, 1978 (46 years ago)
McArthur Court
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR
INTRO: Minglewood Blues
Track #1
Start – 1:47
SHOW No. 1: Jack Straw
Track #7
2:57 – 4:38
SHOW No. 2: Bertha
Track # 10
3:30 – 5:07
SHOW No. 3: Close Encounters
Track #17
2:30 – 3:50
SHOW No. 4: St. Stephen
Track # 18
6:00 – 7:32
OUTRO: U.S. Blues
Track #21
3:18 – 4:49
Larry (00:28.386)
hello everyone welcome to another episode of the deadhead cannabis show i'm larry michigan of michigan law in chicago have a great show for you today uh... great episode coming up here hope you were have a few minutes to hang out uh...
smoke them if you've got them and uh... let's make an afternoon of it or whatever time you're listening to this for me it happens to be friday afternoon just a couple of days ago uh... and get ready to roll into a nice weekend here in the uh... windy city with a little bit snow but not too bad uh... and we're starting to work our way out of the sub-arctic temperatures which is always nice uh... today we are going to turn the clock back in time forty six years to january twenty second nineteen seventy eight
carter court on the campus of the university of oregon in eugene organ or as good buddy mikey would call it blue gene uh... and uh... also good friend of the show andy greenberg uh... went to law school there after her days in michigan wolverine so uh... she can speak uh... very well of the uh... does speak very well but uh... also i have yet to make my way out to eugene oregon are really anywhere in the state of oregon which i hope to change sometime in the near future
right way. But in the meantime, let's go back in time, way back machined for 46 years, find a comfortable seat, spark up, and let's listen to how the Dead opened the show on that night.
Larry (03:41.174)
Minglewood Blues, Deadheads Know It Very Well, Bobby Weird tune.
uh... that he played uh... often uh... came up in the dead repertoire it was played somewhere in the four hundred uh... four hundred forty times by the grateful dead uh... first played on march third nineteen sixty six at the a i a that's three days a i a hall in los angeles and uh... it was last played in nineteen ninety five at auburn hills
Michigan the outdoor theater that they have there
I'm sorry, I had the date pulled up just a second ago, and I'm not putting my finger. Oh, here we go, it's right there. Yes, the Palace of Auburn Hills, excuse me, in Michigan, just outside of Detroit on June 27, 1995. The song itself was not actually written by Bob Weir, although he took the tune, and it always says, like, traditional, arranged by. And I'm sure there's a word.
specific meaning for that musical world but i couldn't tell you what it is uh... but uh... the song itself was written by noah lewis was recorded on january third nineteen twenty eight in menethus tennessee by the canon jug stompers and the members of the band were just can and who played the banjo in the jug ashley thompson on guitar and vocal and noah lewis
Larry (05:17.154)
The only resemblance apparently between Noah's megalwood blues and the dead's is the title. Basically, the songs have really no lyrics in common. And I've gone through and read the lyrics by Noah Lewis. And you can all go and check them out. And
read them yourself. But it's true. But it doesn't matter, right? There was a song. It was out there. Somebody in the dead knew it, heard it, had some connection to it, and that's really kind of the cool part, isn't it? That these guys were playing in the 1920s, and there was recordings of this stuff, but they weren't always that great, and there was probably all sorts of people who played in that time that we'll never know about because they didn't really have any means to record or preserve their music. But guys like this were able to do it just enough that a
like Garcia or Weir or Hunter or Barlow or Lesh or one of the drummers or whoever it might be, say, hey, I remember hearing this tune, it's got a great beat, and then they reach up and they pull that up. That's not any different from Goose Today reaching back 30 years, right, basically, and pulling songs from the dead and bringing them into the light for the next generation.
primarily black musicians that have taken on mainstream appeal and brought the songs out on an even wider scope.
uh... you know i love seeing that the dead uh... you know enjoyed all kinds of music but especially uh... really honored older traditional songs that were written at a time when rock and roll was in a term that could describe them but you know maybe upon listening to them might be interpreted as you know whatever the rock and roll of that time was in terms of the way they were played and what they were trying to do it trying to achieve and uh... i've always loved middlewood blues was always part of a uh... working
Larry (07:14.804)
or in CC Writer at least during the years in the 80s and 90s when I was seeing the boys and that was always a lot of fun. They'd kind of rotate those three on a fairly regular basis and they would typically come up on nights when Bobby opened and then Jerry would play a tune and then when he got around to Bobby for the third song.
Then he would he would go ahead and do it on a night when Jerry opened it all depends what they did when I saw them At the Rosemont Horizon back. Oh, but about 88 or 89 and they opened they opened the show with Scarlet Fire was the first time I had ever seen him do it and It was pretty amazing and hold on time out Dan I fucked up here Mark the time, please
Give me a second, I was going somewhere with that story and as I was telling it, I forgot what my story was. Let me just see, where was I? I was talking about megalwood blues. And, oh yes, okay, I got it, thank you.
Larry (08:29.262)
And the Rosemount Horizon was always a great place to see the dead, but they came out and they opened with Scarlet Fire, which was so unusual, the first time I had ever seen it. And it was amazing, and we were all just having a great time rocking to that. It puts you in a mood right away where it totally disassociates you with where they normally would be in the show, and your thought is, oh my God, where can they go from here? Are we gonna get a second set for the first set? Are they breaking off into new territory with what they do? And then, just as the song would end,
familiar twang of either Little Red Rooster or the opening note of C.C. Ryder or Bobby jumping off into Born in the Desert, Raised in a Lion's Den. And there'd be about a minute there where it was almost kind of like a letdown, right? Not because you didn't like the song, but because we were all on such a high, think of an amazing Scarlet Fire take you right out of the box before you even have a chance to sit in your seat and all of a sudden they project you to a spot where in the second set, when they leave you after Fire on the Mountain,
They're normally taken off into something else, right? Maybe an estimated profit into eyes of the world or into a tariff. But you know you're off for a nice little jam that's going to take you to all sorts of interesting places, especially if you're set up well for the night.
And whereas the first set was always more of a, they're just playing songs. They're getting everybody in the mood. They're getting everybody ready. And not to say that those songs weren't great and a lot of fun, but in terms of the overall feeling, at least for me. And what was going on everywhere, it was kind of like the introduction for the night. And the boys would really get you going, inevitably. The last song or two of the first set, whether it was the music never stopped or deal, or tunes like that would seem to come up
all great songs for that purpose, by the way. They'd really leave you on a tremendously high note, not just mentally from what you might have been doing, but musically, where they've lifted up your soul to at that point. And clever, because it would always give you energy to kind of bounce around through the set break, which unfortunately usually ran about 45 minutes to an hour, and certainly more towards the hour as they got older. And then they'd come out with a second set.
Larry (10:47.596)
open with Scarlet Fire or China Writer or Help Slip Franklin's. You know, they'd come out and open with all sorts of things. But it didn't matter because eventually they slip into some fun stuff. But Minglewood, at that particular point, I think, and any of those tunes, as I think I probably mentioned before.
within two minutes of sitting there listening to the song you know you pick up on what garcia's to you pick up on what we're still in and all of a sudden uh... you know the musical side of it is uh... is really great i really like being able to listen to that and uh... this is just a really good example of it and uh... it's fun to hear so uh... here's to me who would lose even though it was it was on two different albums original album and i think it's on the arm
Larry (11:38.102)
shakedown street I want to say called an all new brand new something minglewood blues but the highlight of the song was when Bobby would always say T for Texas T for Timbuktu and it's T right here in whatever town he was in where the little girls know what to do. Sometimes he'd remember the town he was in. Sometimes he would say the name of a state. Sometimes he would just say here on planet Earth or whatever. But that was always kind of part of the fun of minglewood. You know, would Bobby remember what town he was in and all of that. So, you know, it had good stuff. We
Now, here, this show really takes off hard after the Migglewood Blues and they really get into some great tunes, some great jamming. And...
Oops, I'm sorry, there we go.
Larry (12:29.094)
Strong Dire Wolf follows, then a Cassidy, a Peggy-O which was really starting to get a lot of playing time in the late 1970s there, El Paso, Tennessee Jed, all great tunes, and I really recommend this show. It is on archive, it's got some really good sound quality, but all night they're just, they're really on fire in this show, they're really just.
jam and i'm trying to hit on some of the higher jamming tunes as indicated by the comments afterwards uh... but this next song is a familiar one that we all know and uh... this is kind of an interesting place for the song to pop up uh... but nevertheless it's played tremendously well and as you'll hear by the crowd very well received
Larry (14:44.658)
You can hear that music at the end and this is still relatively right, depth smack in the middle of the song. They just came out on fire on this Jack Straw and you can never get enough Jack Straws. They're just, they're...
always a always a crowd pleaser always great and always good for a little charcoal because as you notice right as we jumped in uh... jerry kind of botched his lyrical he repeated the i'd just jump the watchman lyric instead of gotta go to tulsa then got in line for the got it together for the next line first train we can ride but his voice sounds great uh... the crowd really loves it and why not it's just such a uh... a wonderful to always really fun to hear and uh...
when they're on uh... like that point you know jerry's really jamming it down in bobby's you know keeping up with them and fills back there drop in his bombs all over the place and it's just it's haven't sometimes you know to be dab smack in the middle of a show with all of this going on uh... you know your mind is on it has a mind of its own and uh... it just would make for a wonderful evening and those are the kind of nights and moments that you really miss yes you can capture them sometimes with a j rad or a fill in friends or
Dead and Co. But there was just something about this group of guys. And I think that Rob Hunt said it best a while back, when he said, on any night, I would be just as happy going to see the Garcia Band.
But if you were going to look to see a band that was going to be playing on a night when they were peaking and they were absolutely handing it out on the finest level they could, it had to be the Grateful Dead. It had to be all of the members of the Grateful Dead because they only got to those moments when each one of them was pouring in, that kind of perfect positive energy. And that's what it sounds like there. It's hard to just cut off in the middle of a jam, but we try to limit the clips for a few minutes because otherwise I could just pop a tape in
Larry (16:41.432)
go in the back, smoke a couple of joints, and come back and say thanks for listening. And it would be all good. And that would work out well for me. Not sure how much Dan would like that, but we would do what we have to do. But it's fun to talk about it too, because it's such good stuff that.
Sometimes people ask me how much prep work do I have to do. And the truth of the matter is it depends. Sometimes if a show's coming up that I really, there's something about it that I really find unique or special or that I like, I'll take the time to really make sure I've got that hammered down. But other times if I'm maybe rushing or whatever, I just, you know what, find a show, pick out six songs, sit down, it gives me the excuse to listen to music for a while, you can always find a place to go and then we can always talk about it. And any one of these shows and any one of these performances
which is what really kind of makes it so cool i think and um... really a lot of fun so uh... we will get back to our show live from the university of oregon forty six years ago today in a moment but i want to work over to the music scene for a little bit and uh... this is just kind of a potpourri if you will you'll get to use that word very often so we don't have a chance i'd like to drop it in there uh... of what i just think is some interesting uh... things going on right now um...
One of them is Kelly Clarkson. Now, you're gonna sit there and say, why the hell are you talking about Kelly Clarkson on this show? And I'm talking about it for two reasons, because one, I have a very clear and distinct memory of watching her beat Justin on the very first time there ever was You've Got Talent, or We've Got Talent, or whatever the hell that show was called, the very first one. And she and Justin, whatever his name was, with the little Afro. And we were at my cousin's house out in Long Beach, and we all had, the kids had to sit up to watch that,
meant that my cousin's husband, David, and I, cool guy, always fun to be around, couldn't turn on whatever sporting event we wanted to watch, because we had to see who was going to win, Kelly or Justin. And of course, Kelly did. Justin was very gracious about it, but then started some stupid movie with her, and they made a lot more money. She's still out there, and she's got her daytime talk show. And I don't have anything against Kelly Clarkson. I think she's got a very good voice. I think that she's humorous. And when I listen to her, which I have to admit is not all that often, she can be very entertaining.
Larry (19:01.947)
But I was hanging out with my son and the other night before he went back to school for the start of the next semester and he had some music on and I'm sitting there and it takes me a minute because I wasn't really paying attention and I recognized the music and I recognized the song
but I don't recognize the singer, primarily because I can't imagine who this woman is that's singing and covering the song Creep by Radiohead.
and you know i don't creep is kind of one of their more early you know when they were just kind of break it out of the scene before they got to kid a and you know all that kind of stuff for they really got uh... you know down and crazy uh... but those are the kind of songs that i love and they do such you know thomas york has a great voice and it's such a great tune uh... you know it's really almost a classic and you could not be over with the father that kelly clarkson
was singing Creep by Radiohead. And I just couldn't. My son looked at me like, what's the big deal? And I thought, you know, you were too young. You were there when we watched Kelly and Justin have their showdown and their battle. But you weren't old enough to remember it. And I do. And to see her out there singing Creep, more power to her. I thought it was wonderful. I thought she did a great job singing it. She created that whole little mystique with the tune that York gets to when he's singing it.
I don't know if they were plugging in the radio head music or if she had a band that was playing it.
Larry (20:32.67)
It was just killer. It was really, really great. And looking back on it, I probably should have thrown 30 seconds of it on today's show. And maybe we'll do it next week just because it was just transformative almost. You know what? You're never too old to remember that anybody can do anything. And I just remember on one of those other shows with Simon Cowell or whatever when this very ordinary, almost homely kind of Welsh woman came on. And all of a sudden, she opened her mouth and had this voice of an angel, Susan, whatever her name was.
And she went on to become this big star. They were all blown away because they had all totally judged her by her appearance, which certainly didn't suggest that she was going to be such a capable singer for no reason other than human prejudice in terms of the way we judge people in that regard.
But that was me with Kelly Clarkson, that, yeah, she can sing your good old traditional country tune or a little slice of Americana or whatever. But Radiohead's creep is not really directly within anywhere close to the mainstream of American music. It's not that far outside of it, I guess. But.
I just thought it was great. It's just wonderful. And thank God for the internet, because you can mash up names and songs and whatever, or just strange covers, and sometimes you'll find one that just kind of blows you away. So hats off to Kelly Clarkson for doing that. I love it. I'm going to come back and listen to that one again, maybe as often as I listen to Radiohead do it, which I'll confess probably isn't all that often, but still pretty often enough for me.
Number two, today being the day that I'm taping this, which is the Friday before, a few days ago, if you're listening to this on Monday the 22nd, which I hope you are, tickets for Fish Fest in August in Delaware have gone on sale and I gotta tell you folks, this is, as parents, this is exactly what we work for. My son had been talking about this for a while.
Larry (22:37.454)
uh... my son atlanta matthew uh... has uh... lovely daughter ruby and even lovely or wife elena who's the mother of ruby uh... and uh... once they announced fish fest he had never seen a fish fest before because the last time there was a fish fest he had just kind of broken into the scene
and then he is but he's tried to go to the one at watkins glenn a few years later curveball i think it was called that got canceled literally as they were pulling into the campgrounds because it had rained so hard that the water systems had overflowed so that uh... sewage systems in the drinking water systems and whatever they weren't letting people in the cancel the whole thing cuz it'd have fresh water and all this other stuff so soon as they announced a festival i suspected that uh... he and his buddies might be in
Larry (23:27.344)
do I want to go?" And I said, yeah, sure. That would be great. Of course, my wife always reminds me that I'm not that group, even if I like to think I am. And I get that. I completely respect that. And I don't know that I would have ever asked my father. In fact, I know I wouldn't have ever asked my father to go to an event like that, because I know he would have had no interest, and he would have not been comfortable with the way that everyone else was behaving. But my son and I have a different relationship.
not necessarily a better relationship, but a different relationship. And I know his buddies, and we all get along. And so he called me today and said, yeah, the.
tickets went on sale they were talking originally about trying to get rv permits and renting our fees uh... but the last minute they had a change of heart and switched over to uh... getting passes for glamping uh... then we did confirm apparently that they are temperature control tents because i don't really expect to get too cold in delaware that time of year but it just happened it happens to be a heat wave uh... always nice to have a place to go in and cool down a little bit uh...
But yeah, he got a glamping. They got two tents, one for four people and one for two. And he invited me to share the two for with him. So I get to go out to the fish fest. I've never seen one with my oldest and his group of buddies. And we'll talk more about this as we go along. But there'll be Jacob and David and Seth and more. And also Kevin. We've talked about Kevin a lot on this show. But Kevin always goes a step up.
where they actually have their own plumbing facilities within their tent as opposed to having to go to a communal facility.
Larry (25:07.982)
It's OK with me as long as I got a nice bed to sleep in. I'm a happy guy. But honored to be invited and really looking forward to it. Talking to our fish cousins out on the West Coast. And they're oppressed too. It's like, hey, for an old deadhead who's trying to kind of make his way in the fish community these days, this is a pretty big commitment. And I took my best shot at the Sphere in Las Vegas in April. And it doesn't look like that's going to happen, unfortunately. But at least I've got Delaware in August to look forward to.
get to spend some quality time with my son, with his buddies, and hear some wonderful music with a great community. So very much looking forward to that.
Larry (25:52.754)
And I guess that's kind of it for the music scene. We're heading into the musical summer here. And there's lots of great stuff going on, great shows going down, not just Fish. And even before that, in the upcoming months, in February and March, I believe Widespread is playing here. And I'm sure there's some other bands I just have to.
uh... reach out to my buddy uh... j t and he's usually pretty good about knowing what shows are coming around and uh... or kevin and get the scoop on that but you can ever get a good enough good live music and uh... while summer will be fun we'll see what else there is to do uh... here in the interim uh... but let's go back if we can now to uh... forty six years ago today up in blue jean and uh... the next on the plane because
it's one of my favorites for so i ever saw the grateful that place of those of you who are listening for with any frequency should know exactly what something that is uh... my kids probably do because i talk about it every time it comes on uh... it's a sign that almost always at least in my experience though not always in my experience uh... would open a show and what it did other than maybe that occasional scarlet fire shocker there was nothing better in terms of a traditional grateful dead show opener then birth up and the only time it might be even more fun
Larry (27:14.226)
So this is a night when Jerry's smoking. He's coming out with tons of blazing in the second set. And let's listen to a little bit of Bertha for a minute.
Larry (28:53.314)
I just love Bertha. What a great song. It's always happy. It's always uplifting. It always gets you in a great mood. It's just a great opener.
and it can be a lot of fun. I saw it buried deep in the middle of a second set once at Madison Square Garden in 1983 at the show that eventually would result in the St. Stephen and they played it before the space. In fact, I think they played it going into the space but it was it was great to hear it there too. They could play it anywhere they wanted anytime and I know it was always one of Jerry's favorites and maybe there were times when he wasn't quite sure what to play so he just said what the hell I'm gonna play Bertha and as always he messes up the lyrics a little bit but we smile and laugh and sing along and
a good time because we're all kind of in on it a little bit anyway and it just it's just nice it's a lot of fun
So glad we have a chance to listen to Bertha. Again, one of those tunes that was never released on an album but instead was released on the first live, well, the second live album ever, not Live Dead, but the album that was just called Grateful Dead, Skull and Roses. It's got all the different names like that. And
you know but it's just uh... a great song uh... as i say you know definitely a crowd pleaser played uh... just over four hundred times by the boys first in nineteen seventy one february eighteenth at the capitol theater in portchester new york we've talked about the old run of shows and as we get to the towards the middle to the end of next month will probably back get back in to one of those shows that we haven't talked about yet uh... because it was just such a special time for the dead and
Larry (30:33.508)
their peak in their new more Americana-themed style of play in those Capitol Theater. That run at the Capitol Theater is a big part of it. And then it was last played again at the Palace of Auburn Hills on June 27th, 1995. So a good day to be at a show in terms of getting to catch a lot of famous tunes on their last go-around. And so yeah, that's Bertha. And just always a pleasure and such a treat to hear it.
could just instantly put a smile on your face no matter where you were at with the show, what kind of a mood you were in, or really anything like that. And just so nice. Now, this next bit here gets really interesting for a minute because this is a little bit of Jerry noodling around during space. And
You have to remember what year we're at here. It's January 22, 1978. And for you folks who are big on pop history in this country and happy days kind of stuff like that and remembering when those kind of things happen, check out Jerry Noodle and around on this space for a minute. And I use the term space there in every sense of the word. And raise your hand as soon as you hear something that sounds familiar.
Larry (33:25.962)
all little tease for next to have to hold on that for a minute uh... you always got a lot of when you get a little bit of space from uh... of the boys focused on something in here of course jerry was laser focused if you will on a major motion picture that had come out just a couple of months before uh... and that movie in case some of you were not quite old enough to uh...
remember was Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a movie that was released in 1977. So I was in high school. And although I'm having a bit of a brain cramp here, I seem to recall that the first time I saw it, maybe my friends and I, was I want to say it, that we had a high school English class. And they had a screening day for high school students or something. Maybe I'm high. Maybe I was high then. Although I probably wasn't. But I don't know. At any rate, it was a movie that you
would eventually go on to see a bunch of times because it had a great plot line, really, really good special effects. This was all kind of following in the Star Wars theme that had just come out really in the same year, just a little bit before it. And all of a sudden, it was Close Encounters of the Third Kind. And one was Lucas, and the other was Spielberg. And each was kind of staking out their ground in the science fiction modern sci-fi genre of the film industry.
both trying to come up with better and better special effects. And I just remember this movie, thinking how cool it was, the way they showed the various flying saucers and other little flying vehicles. It just looked like little bulbs of light zipping and zapping all over the place. And
There's a couple of different cuts of the film. And one of the cuts at the end, the film basically ends with the hero played by Richard Dreyfuss. And I'm sorry if I'm ruining it for people, but it's been 30 years or 50 years or however long. God damn it, go see the movie already. With him, the big mothership coming and landing behind the flat top mountain in Wyoming, and all of these people who had been, quote unquote, abducted over the years by aliens, are all released. And Richard Dreyfuss, the government, has a whole bunch of Americans all prepped
Larry (35:39.524)
who are ready to go, who are going to be the people to go off back into outer space to try and create relationships with these people and do tests on them and get tests done on them. And they say, nope, we don't want any of them. We just want Richard Dreyfus because he believes he buys into the whole thing. And not unlike maybe an acid trip, I guess, in some respects, right? Because then he gets on the ship and you see him walking up the little ramp. The ramp closes. The ship takes off. And that's the end of all of it. But there was one cut where he walks in and they kind of give you a quick view
of what he's beginning to look at. And on the one hand, it's amazingly cool. On the other hand, I remember it being a little bit frustrating because, wow, this is so amazingly cool. I'd really like to see the rest of the inside of this.
Larry (36:23.81)
machine here and we're not going to get to do it. But that's OK. That's where good imagination comes in. And if you've been lucky enough to be able to hang out with your buddies for a few minutes before going in and turned up the creativity level a few notches, then it could be really fascinating. And just a fun movie and a movie that I gladly watched with my kids and I'll gladly watch with my granddaughter when she's at an age where she's kind of ready to watch it. Much more satisfying, I find, than like ET.
which...
so a little bit more the cheese on the cheesy side of the line in you know it's still cute it's still clever and you know i'm sure you know younger kids still like to go through it all but uh... you know close encounters man that was a real story that you can really sink your teeth into and you know not so gross or violent the kids could watch it with yen uh... you know good for jerry for being culturally aware enough at that particular moment uh... to know that was something that he wanted to do and uh... you know uh... if you get if you're there you get to hear fun stuff like that
It just really makes it a fun night for everybody, and Jerry doesn't let down. So we're gonna step away from our show for a minute, and we're going to turn over for a second here onto the marijuana side, because it's 420 somewhere, god damn it, so why not here? And Dan, what do you got for us this week on our marijuana-themed music?
Larry (38:11.146)
Yes, folks, the Deadhead Cannabis Club has gone. Deadhead Cannabis Show could be a club, actually. Maybe we have to think about that. Little hats with ears on them and have a little theme song. The Deadhead Cannabis Show has gone down the road of one Miley Cyrus back from 2015 and her dude.
because there's a lot of Os after the D. So I'm guessing that's how it's supposed to be pronounced, really, emphasize the OO after the D. And yeah, even Miley, right? She went on to say that, I think weed is the best drug on earth. She told Rolling Stone way back in 2013 when she was what, like eight years old or something. I mean, now I've lost perspective of when she was Hannah Montana, when that period was, and when she was wrecking ball, when she got on the big wrecking ball naked, flying all around. And I mean, right?
to be able to do that. And I don't know that she's that old now, but at any rate, this was back in 2013. She was talking about it. And here's her next line, which is even better than that. Well, you know, Hollywood is a Coke town, but weed is so much better. And I'm like, however old she is, can she really be old enough to be talking about Coke and hopefully not doing it? But
You know, God love her, I'm not here to be paternal or to object to Miley Cyrus. I'm just saying that as a reflection on my age, trying to look back on that time and get a grip of exactly where things were doing all of that. So she says that she has quit smoking marijuana, in part because it was causing her to eat too much, a good common complaint, and spent too much time at home playing with her pets.
So we got this song back in 2015, kind of a stoner anthem, if you will. She recorded it with the help of the Flaming Lips, who she, I remember, she was playing with at the time for the album Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Pets. Do It Remains a smoke-filled rallying cry for the 21st century flower children everywhere. Sing about love. Love is what you need. Love in what you sing. And love and smoke weed. Do it indeed. And loving smoking weed. Do it indeed. Yes, so thank you, Miley. Thank you, Dan.
Larry (40:18.316)
Thank you everyone and with that we are going to turn to some good news kind of for the Illinois market and of course being here in
chicago and uh... on the north's shore and a lot of my clients on being very heavily involved in the elinor a market i do like to follow up on it from time to time and see where at right now uh... the news is all good uh... legal cannabis sales in elinor i'd thank you to our friends over marijuana moment for uh... they're great work in gathering news stories for us to talk about on the air appreciate that uh... that legal cannabis sales in elinor i said a new annual record in twenty
2020-2023 bringing in more than $1.6 billion, a 15% increase over 2022 sales. This is the third consecutive year of climbing revenue in the industry since Illinois made recreational consumption of cannabis legal to adults 21 and over on January 1st, 2020. According to the Illinois Department of Revenue, the state collected $417.6 million in sales tax from marijuana dispensaries in 2023.
According to the governor's office, 42,124,741 items containing THC were sold in 2023 in Illinois. On the other hand, a report from Headset in August of 2023 found that the marijuana sold in Illinois, the third largest market for legal cannabis in the United States, also ranks as the most expensive prices in Illinois or among the highest in the country,
The average item price in Illinois is currently 89% higher than the rest of the US market. Consumers over the age of 41 typically account for 36.4% of sales. However, in Illinois, they capture 42.1% of total sales. So, you know, this is something that we've talked about, and both on the show and, you know, I've talked about with friends and clients as well, which is, you know...
Larry (42:30.382)
The thing is, you have to know who your markets are. You have to know what you're really looking to do. And you have to know what you're doing, right? If you're selling to people who are over the age of 41, who account for a very large bite of a
the sales of 42% instead of the national average of 36%, what that's speaking to is like a market like wine, right? Or really nice whiskies or tequilas these days that people over the, you know, you could say I guess more or less over the age of 40 have gotten themselves to a point in life where they have, at least some people have disposable income sufficient to allow them to not just buy whiskey but to go buy Blanton's whiskey or whatever the top,
Scotches are the top tequilas and I'll always defer to good buddy Mike and my buddy H on those things Just like they'll always defer to me on flower and then everybody's happy
But older people are willing to spend a little more money and go and buy an ounce of something really good instead of, oh, it's Saturday night, I'm gonna go grab three pre-rolls of whatever I can find and hopefully on the cheaper end, because that's okay, which is like when we were all in college and whatever we drank, Boone's Farm or whatever garbage they sold that they would sell you even if you didn't have a license.
And I'll thought, wow, we're really living the big life here.
Larry (44:04.794)
So, but this is great to see. My clients are very happy and well they should be. And what's amazing about this, what's absolutely amazing about this, is that it's still just almost, not entirely exclusively, but still, I would say, 90% of the dispensary market in Illinois is still controlled primarily by the MSOs and the holdovers, the transitioners over from the medical program. Because Illinois, as we've talked about in the past
I've bitched about a lot has been so slow in rolling out all of these new licenses that of the new 70 or 75 or whatever it is dispensaries that are going to come online for the adult use market.
there's still not a very large number of them that have. And once they're all up and once they're all running and the craft growers, who I believe have now received notice that they have the ability to expand all the way out to 14,000 square feet, which is almost triple the space they had when they applied for their license for a craft grow, but still significantly less than the MSO medical people who are growing on hundreds of thousands of square feet. But that's okay, we're gonna bring new people into the market and they're gonna
Hopefully the craft growers are gonna come up with some new strains and maybe some premium strains that people who are a little bit older are willing to pay a few extra dollars to get their hands on. And we'll see what that can do to the market here in Illinois and where things can go. And the truth is this is my state. I sample from the markets every now and then. Probably not as much as...
other people but that's i think the both of uh... a factor of uh... shortly on the flower side not really what i think is the best flower that's available out there and um...
Larry (45:55.818)
you know otherwise it's all very expensive and you know but they're still uh... some flavors that i come across and i enjoy uh... animal faces one that i think is really good uh... i've always enjoyed that blue dream of course whenever you can find it if it's grown properly uh... all during michigan's uh... amazing absolutely fantastic wonderful we haven't talked about it enough football run on their march to the national championship is if the ticket time out here cuz last week
Larry (46:26.032)
Harbaugh was staying and JJ was staying and Donovan Edwards was staying. Well Donovan Edwards has confirmed he's staying but Harbaugh is still totally up in the air and JJ has said he's going pro and I gave credit for this to my buddy Kenny, part of the whole Michigan Legends group and told him I did and then of course the very next day JJ says I'm going pro so I wanna be the one to go out there and I'm gonna take Kenny off the hook for this because I have content control.
and he fed me some information that was as current as he knew it to be, and I had to try and go and verify it on the back end, and got lazy and just decided it's good enough, I'm gonna go with it. So, no shame to Kenny, that's what I get for drifting off into sports, which is also another love of mine, but that's not what we're really here to talk about. Now just for the record, if this had been, say, Ben Dogg or Seth, I would have totally thrown them under the bus, I just wanna be very clear about that.
self on the sword and make sure that it doesn't go too far with him. We like Kenny, he's a good guy. Love them all. The Michigan legends, they let me be one with them. And God bless you. We're all wearing the pride as bright as we can be and always ready to look forward to another one.
But Blue Dream was great during the run. Pink Wava is one that I was turned on to by a good friend that I had never had an opportunity to really try before. And it's a wonderful hybrid that is very relaxing, especially during those very tense moments of the football game when they keep cutting to commercial every 30 seconds. And I'm pacing a hole in my carpeting from walking around the room almost from the moment the game stops. If you ever want to get.
Steps easy on whatever step counter you use.
Larry (48:14.398)
just go turn it on when your team is about to start a very, very big important game. And not everybody is like me, and most people are normal and sit down and watch, but I can't sit down. I walk, I just pace back and forth. And by the end, I find I've walked a mile and a half, two miles, sometimes even more. And yeah, it's a great little life hack for sports fans out there who find themselves at the TV more than they do at the gym, just something to think about.
I've kind of come home to again that I haven't been really in touch with for a while is shatter and you know shatter is just great. Shatter is the stuff that all goes back to. You just snap off a piece and you know whether you want to dab with it or whether you want to spice up a salad with it, you know whatever you want to do. It's very easy. You don't need a dab tool. You don't need to get ready to you know have it all stick to your fingers. Now if you have shatter and you know you're outside on a warm day then yeah you may have
have a little bit of a problem with it but you know when it's negative 10 degrees outside I can assure you we have no problem with it getting too sticky or runny and it's just very convenient you know you can just quickly snap a piece off pop it on top of a oney and everybody's off to the races with that extra little boost without all the hassle and trouble that you get when you would otherwise try to be dabbing so taste it again for the first time and
Larry (49:44.992)
and I give it an enthusiastic thumbs up. I also want to give a shout out to our friends who run the big head shop warehouse compound out near O'Hare Field. It's a warehouse sales place, and you can only get in if you have a...
a retail license in Illinois and a good acquaintance of mine was kind enough to take my son and I out there last week for a little tour of the facilities and imagine walking into a Walmart or a Sam's and all of those constructed shelves where they have paper towels and toilet paper and everything you could ever need just piled high except instead it's all glassware, bongs and pipes and everything.
dab rigs and all the tools and all the supplies. And it was incredible. It was just overwhelmingly incredible.
And you go to a place like that because when you're buying from a wholesale, when you're a retailer, you need to be able to buy at the wholesale price. And we saw pieces of glass there that I've seen in a regular head shop. And here they were 50%, 60%, maybe even 70% less because when you can have a chance to buy at that price. But you can't just walk in and buy one is usually the thing. So that can be a bit discouraging. But on the other hand, even without buying anything or only buying one or two pieces just to see it
was absolutely incredible, just incredible. And if you ever have a chance to walk into a real glass store and not just a quick little smoke shop that gets set up in a strip mall with one or two counters and just some crap thrown behind it, but really nice pieces, I highly recommend it. It's just, it's great to see. There's gonna come a day when, just like when my wife and I got married and we had to have a,
Larry (51:44.458)
Oh, hell, time out here, sorry. What's it called when you make a list of things you want people to get you?
Larry (51:55.812)
It's a registry on your wedding registry. Okay. Got it.
Larry (52:09.942)
You know, I hope we're going to find, reach the day soon. Um, when, you know, like when couples for their wedding registry will list.
glassware that they want, but not the kind of glassware my wife and I sign for it. Crate and barrel, right? We like these cups and those coffee mugs, and this china. And if anybody still to this day can explain to me exactly what china is, other than just another type of glass plate, but for some reason it's the good stuff that you only bring out with the fancy guests on the fancy occasions, and otherwise you don't, which means my wife and I in 35 years of marriage have probably used it three times.
Larry (52:48.336)
with it because now of course most of these patterns can't be replicated and I don't even know. But forget that, you know, let couples on their registries start getting registries at head shop stores. You know, we're going to need a bong, we're going to need a dabber, we're going to need a couple of bangers to go with that rig and, you know, we're going to need all this stuff and people can start getting really nice pieces and they can become conversation pieces when they come over just like, you know, my mom used to have lolly crystal on her.
on her fancy table in her fancy room that none of the kids were ever allowed into so they wouldn't break anything. And now there's like.
My kids can and have broke everything in my house. But on the other hand, I don't have to worry about keeping a room clean and kids crying because they want to go in there, and you may not let them. But I digress. That's for conversations with my therapist, not for my podcast audience. There are other things going on in the world of cannabis. And let's check in with some of those really fast because it is always kind of cool to see what we've got happening. And again, from our friends at Marijuana Moments, thank you.
This is happening so often now I don't even feel the need to start crowing about it and getting up and jumping up and down and saying told you, told you, told you. But what I will tell you is this in a nice story and marijuana moment. Marijuana use among teens in Washington state's most populous county declined after legalization of cannabis for adults according to a new federal study published on Thursday by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC.
The prevalence of current and frequent use fell significantly among youths in grades 8, 10, and 12 between 2008 and 2021. And of course, remembering that they went legal at the beginning of 2014. So for a period of seven years, now it was already a trend, but they went legal in 2014 and the trend continues through 2021, which may be the latest data that they have, according to the study published in the CDC's latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly.
Larry (54:52.592)
report, current infrequent use of marijuana among teens in King County has fallen significantly since state voters legalized adult use cannabis by initiative in November 2012.
Researchers said legalization and related regulations and age controls could have fueled the trend by making marijuana harder for teens to access. Although they also said the COVID pandemic may have contributed to more recent declines. Between 2008 and 2021, current use defined as having used marijuana at least once in the past month fell from highs of 20.4% among males in 2010 and 15.5% among females in 2012 down to 7.7 and 9% respectively in 2021.
The legalization of non-medical cannabis for adults aged
under twenty one years of age in washington with license dispensaries requiring proof of age might have affected availability this in turn might have had impact on the prevalence of doing it but they point out again in twenty twelve washington was among one of the first states to legalize non-medical cannabis uh... for adults uh... who were twenty one years of age or older prompting concern excuse me twenty one yes twenty one years of age or older prompting concerns about how this measure might affect use by younger persons
to an increase in the use of marijuana by youths or youths, if you're going to remember my cousin Vinnie and Herman Munster sitting on the bench. But basically, as every other place where these studies have ever been done, and now this isn't some pro-marijuana group doing the study, right, this is the CDC, who everybody seems to like and listen to and trust in these kind of things. And, you know, they're finding it too. And again, I know it sounds counterintuitive to people.
Larry (56:40.08)
explanations they come up with might be a little lame and not really fit the bill in terms of telling us Exactly what's going on behind the scenes?
It's a trend and we just have to get used to it. People shouldn't be fighting it. People should be happy to see. Maybe it's because parents are setting good examples. If you have marijuana and you're smoking it and your kids are beginning to come of age and they don't see you running around doing bong hits and one after another after another and going to the refrigerator and raiding it and doing whatever people like to do when they're high. You get high, you go downstairs, and you sit there and you watch your movie.
You know, you'd probably fall asleep a lot faster. Right? But setting examples, the way like that parents do with wine in France. And as a result,
alcoholism is not as great as France, especially among younger people, because their parents have been such good examples for them in terms of responsible drinking. If you sit down and you have a glass of wine with dinner, that can be a great thing to do. It doesn't mean you have to polish off the entire bottle of wine if it's just you. It's important to do that. So for the same reason, none of this is really all that surprising.
Hopefully the folks out there that are, you know, big critics of this will really take this to heart because, you know, I can't even count now how many times we've talked about different polls on this show that all come out with the same conclusion that it does not lead to an increase in smoking marijuana by underage people and in fact might lead to a decrease. Kkk.
Larry (58:25.65)
So thank you to the CDC for just giving us one more arrow in our quiver on that argument and something else you can pull out anytime any of the prohibitionists and the raw stealth aides of the world wanna come in and try to make your life miserable. But here's something else, and this is great.
This is really, really interesting, and it also falls into the well-dove course category. And again, thank you to the folks over at Marijuana Moment. But they write that President Joe Biden stands to make significant political gains if marijuana is rescheduled under his administrative directive, according to a new survey that reveals major support for the reform. It also found that marijuana enjoys greater favorability with voters compared to Biden and former President Donald Trump. So what I think they're saying, there is people like marijuana more than they
Biden or Trump, which is probably true. The poll conducted by Lake Research Partners and commissioned by the Coalition for Cannabis Scheduling Reform, CCSR, showed that 58% of likely voters favor loosening federal marijuana laws by moving it from schedule one to schedule three of the Controlled Substances Act, just 19% oppose it. But perhaps even more critically for Biden heading into the election later this year, the survey found that voters' impressions of the president jumped a net 11 points after hearing
the implications of the rescheduling review that the president initiated. And that includes an 11-point favorability swing among young voters, 18 to 25, who will be critical to Biden's reelection bid. What it seems to indicate is that voters who are exposed to the rescheduling debate and the president's role in the process view him more favorably. Of course, Biden doesn't control the direct final outcome. The US Department of Health and Human Services recommended the rescheduling action upon completion of scientific review last year.
authority in the manner. Of course, ultimately the DEA answers to the president. This is on the executive side of the executive corner, if you will, of the different branch, three different branches of government. And so this is something that can be accomplished if Biden wants to do it. And I say, for God sakes Joe, I know you're not a big fan of marijuana and I respect that, but this ought to be a no-brainer for you. Because all these studies, like coming out like the one we just talked about, are favorable and positive and don't
Larry (01:00:42.096)
have to make you feel like you're setting things up for people to fall into these terrible habits and behavioral patterns where their lives will spiral out of control. And 40 years old, they'll still be sitting in their mother's basements playing video games and all this other crazy stuff they've wanted us to believe for all of these years. Grab this opportunity. Be the guy that said, yes, take these extra points. Take these extra votes that voters are willing to give you. And voters, of course, you should. So if you sit there and say, well, I can't decide between Trump and Biden,
which already, I mean, whatever, we're not gonna get into that. But if you can't, hopefully that this is enough to put you over the top to say, yep, Biden's doing it, and God bless him, and why shouldn't he do it? This is a favorable thing. It works out well for him, it works out well for us.
And hopefully this is information that he will latch onto and be willing to do something with. So we'll see what he says, we'll see what he does, we'll see what all the different agencies do, we'll see what the three Republican legislators who we talked about last week who said, well, you can't do it without our approval. You have to get the approval of Congress if you want to do this because this is such an
really capable of.
doing this and one of the people was the ones who said, well I don't like marijuana because I think it smells bad. So we push all of them off to the side. We defer back to the CDC here and we say, yes CDC we agree with you, keep trucking on and let's make this happen already. And if we have to start with schedule three, we'll start with schedule three, we'll make our way to it being descheduled just as long as we do something already. The problem with the pharmacists, we'll have to work out as we go along
Larry (01:02:32.292)
what happens. So here's hoping that we can get there and we can make this happen. But President Biden, this is a tremendous opportunity for you. And I certainly hope that you will dive in with both feet and really take advantage of it. And you'll be smart if you do. So.
always stuff going on in the marijuana world uh... you know again i'm recommending blue dream i'm recommending animal face i'm recommending peak while pink guava and i'm wholeheartedly recommending shatter just go make a great weekend of it uh... kids lots going on coming up and uh... a lot of fun for you going back to our show though because you heard the teases they were coming out of that close encounters and i will sit here and make you wait any longer this is the next tune in the show
Larry (01:04:54.25)
yellow if you don't know since you when you hear it that you're definitely listening to the wrong podcast but i'd started that in the middle of the jam of the of the mid song jam because the whole this whole version of his great and uh... playing with just so much energy at that time they were going to be would keep on playing it for about just about another year uh... into the beginning of nineteen seventy nine uh... when we get put on the shelf until the three times in nineteen eighty three when they played it in new york and heart ford in san francisco
and then st steven was put to bed forever for reasons that uh... only jerry can probably answer maybe bobby can take a stab at it someday if anybody's are willing to ask him and he's willing to try and answer but uh... the jam in there is just so wonderful jerry's just on fire man he's just bringing it hard and then he just spins on a dime brings it back into the familiar notes of the song brings it down and sends everybody out you know the good bang uh... and uh...
wonderful to hear it.
even in this context. So right, I mean, the way the second set spills out is just incredible. You got A Birth of Good Lovin', Ship of Fools into Samson and Delilah, Terrapin Station, the drum solo, then a 16, almost a 17 minute other one that's just fantastic into the space, which was just kind of starting to come online, maybe as space, not quite, but they were working on it and Jerry just uses it to do his whole Close Encounters thing.
Then two songs that we're going to miss here in Do Not Fade Away and into Around and Around all played just with tremendous energy and great sounding vocals and everything before we kind of stumble our way into the final tune which we will get to here in one second.
Larry (01:06:47.754)
just a couple of quick housekeeping things uh... first of all go online pull down the show listen to it because it's a great show and you should absolutely listen to it number two uh... this podcast is officially taking the position that we support the buffalo bills and we cheer them on to big things uh... now of course is you're all sitting here listening to this on monday uh... we're all hoping dan and i since he's a big buffalo bills and he supported michael michigan thing so i can certainly support his buffalo bills thing uh...
they will have played last night and of course this being friday we don't know what they've done so hopefully they've won in uh... you know by the time we're recording the next uh... episode of the show will have known will know they've won and uh... we give them their proper to be just shows a great guy not say that i like the kansas city chiefs i do have some big friends who were kansas city chiefs fans but they've had their moment in the sun if anybody knows anything about nfl history the uh... bills have been out there school while wandering in the desert
long time you know and on more than one occasion you know being within skipping distance of the water and just missing out wide right so we're gonna wait and see this time we're gonna bring them positive vibes and hope that they really make it happen so
We got that going for us. Birthday shout outs this coming week to good friends Deanie and Robin. And yes, that's Robin with two B's, not just one. So when you're wishing her a happy birthday, make sure you don't forget that. And with all due respect to anyone else I've named today, far and away, the most important shout out that I can possibly give is to my absolutely lovely and beautiful niece, Lily, up in Port Washington, New York. And time out.
Larry (01:08:36.99)
it is port washington i don't know why i'm spacing on it but i'm spacing just for a second here uh... loops where was this
Larry (01:08:49.098)
Yeah, I don't know why it said Port Washington, and all of a sudden it instantly sounded wrong. OK.
Larry (01:09:00.958)
and of course not withstanding uh... or no disrespect to anyone who already mentioned on the show uh... but the biggest shout out i have uh... for this coming week is for my absolutely beautiful lovely and very talented niece in port washington new york who on saturday will be having her bot mitzvah and we're all going out to see her and could not be more excited to get to witness this wonderful thing
uh... i have no doubt she will do a marvelous job and uh... sure you know that's the real life folks you know all this other stuff we're talking about is the stuff that makes life fun but these kind of things are the real life and uh... this is what we all live for us to have these kind of moments uh... fortunately my dad can't be there but through the wonders and magic of modern technology will be able to see the live stream from it live stream of it from his home in saint louis
Larry (01:09:59.236)
But for everybody else, thank you again for listening. Please tune in next week for another new episode of the Deadhead Cannabis Show. Otherwise, have a good week, a safe week, a fun week, and enjoy your cannabis responsibly. Thanks, everyone.
Larry (01:10:17.553)
Shhh!
Mediaboard_sounds (01:10:56.264)
Yeah
Mediaboard_sounds (01:11:02.703)
Change your act!