After years of blindly following the “Just Say No” mantra when I was too young and naïve to know any better, from my first joint at university in the late ‘90’s and the many “legalise” street protests I attended, through first trips to Amsterdam, Jamaica, Christiania and Nimbin, I have been fascinated with the countless properties and vast untapped potential of cannabis.
When Colorado and Washington voted to legalise for recreational use in 2012, I found myself in a position where for the first time I was fortunate enough to be able to invest in and become part of an industry that could truly make a difference and maybe even change the world.
As I saw it, when America farts, the rest of the world says excuse me.
Having previously been the most vehemently opposed country to legalisation efforts worldwide, this sea change of opinion could surely only reverse those views in time and repeal the outdated laws against this plant, that God or whatever you believe in put on this planet for us to benefit from its countless known and infinite unknown properties?
Recently losing my mother to cancer and being thwarted in my efforts to ease her discomfort towards the end with cannabis, as she refused it purely because of its legal status, convinced me to move seriously into this burgeoning industry in the hope of removing the stigma for others.
It seemed the only logical move to make next.
Joining The Arcview Group in January 2014, the first investment group purely concerned with the private funding of cannabis businesses, essential due to the continuing federal illegality and associated banking problems, gave me a first-hand overview of the myriad products and characters this unique industry attracts as it moves out of the shadow and into the light.
My first meeting in Las Vegas included a trip to CHAMPS trade show full of glassblowers making bongs and every other conceivable cannabis accessory you could imagine. At the Dragons’ Den/Shark Tank-style investor meeting I was pitched everything from a device that analyses the precise components of a particular strain of cannabis, through high glass designer product packaging for dispensaries, to a pair of automated bud clippers.
I saw my first legal cannabis and took my first dab in a penthouse looking over the Strip with a bunch of similar dudes who felt like we were on the cusp of something truly groundbreaking and that feeling has yet to dissipate, though there have been many challenges along the way.
Visiting Denver straight afterwards as it was the first state to sell recreational cannabis (January 25th-25 days into legal retail), I visited my first dispensaries, smoked my first legal joint, toured my first production facility, climbed Red Rocks and nearly passed out through extreme cold.
My second trip in November brought about the culmination of an American dream; I drove a red Corvette up PCH from San Diego via L.A. to San Francisco on Highway 1-one of the drives of a lifetime. Flying from there to Seattle introduced me to my second fully legal state of Washington just a couple of months after they introduced retail and my first “Bud and Breakfast”, the amazing “Bed, Baked and Beyond” with my lovely landladies Abil and Melissa.
Tour opportunities here included my first concentrate producer and a company that makes the machines that extract the concentrate, the latter moving over completely to the cannabusiness when the demand became overwhelming. I was also privileged enough to be invited to my first American family Thanksgiving dinner by a wonderful guy planning on opening one of the first cannabis resorts. A unique insight into American family life I felt proud to be included in, I brought gifts for my hosts from my local liquor, flower and cannabis shops!
2015 brought even more excitement and involvement as I made my first serious investment and was also employed in the industry for the first time as an outside consultant to a Las Vegas company, sharing tales of my travels and extending their reach into Europe. I got my first medical cannabis patient recommendation letter from a Berkeley doctor who has pioneered consultations since Proposition 215 passed over twenty years ago. Rock dreams were fulfilled on the Shiprocked cruise where I tried to grill musicians on the potential future collaborations they could make with cannabusinesses, largely to a wall of silence, followed by a few days at Mardi Gras.
First assignment was covering Spannabis in Barcelona and its social clubs. Then I aimed to cover the whole exploding American scene for the rest of the year, beginning with a ski trip to Aspen to gain inspiration from the home of Hunter S. Thompson, before visiting Denver again to stay in the original “bud+breakfast”, enjoy my first stateside 4/20, including meeting Tommy Chong and attend my first High Times Cannabis Cup. This trip concluded with more visits to Vegas and San Francisco, the latter including a yacht trip across the bay and a last-minute aborted attempt to buy an apartment in Haight-Ashbury near Golden Gate Park, where apparently $1M cash is insufficient.
Heading back to the UK to lick my wounds I enjoyed Download and Glastonbury festivals, including watching Motorhead at the latter with my son, both dressed as Lemmy. Then it was back to the USA for a summer family tour; New York, Seattle where I finally got to fulfill a life goal and do a “Twin Peaks” country tour and attend my first Hempfest.
After spending time in San Francisco and L.A, including a celebratory diner at The Ivy for an old actor friend cast as the villain in Season 4 of “Arrow”, it was decided Venice Beach was by far the best spot for RocknRoll’em HQ as my son loves the beach, L.A loves to rock and Venice is one of the most 420-friendly places on the planet! I found a little place, put an offer in and then embarked on perhaps the most exciting part of my first cannajob-going to my first Burning Man. Following an L.A Arcview meeting where I met one of cannabis’ longest serving warriors, Steve d’Angelo, I had the craziest day drinking at the bar of the Sunset Marquis hotel, as one after another, Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees, David Coverdale of Whitesnake and Kevin bloody Costner all made an appearance, only to be properly bothered by me, they were all gentlemen, well, except for Costner…I felt I had truly arrived in L.A!
Offer on house accepted, after a brief sojourn home for Christmas and my attending the first Amsterdam Unity Cup-a locally-run alternative to High Times-we went to stay in our L.A home for the first time, which very sadly coincided with the passing of Lemmy, who we went to the Rainbow to honour. Very sad, as I harboured dreams of becoming a regular at the Rainbow alongside him. We celebrated our first stay in the new place with Motley Crue’s last ever gig on New Year’s Eve.
Early 2016 I found a bright green, California Special edition Boss 302 Mustang which simply had to become RocknRoll’em’s wheels! Unfortunately it was located near Austin, Texas which entailed a 2000 mile drive across five states via El Paso, Tucson and Las Vegas-I learned a lot about the USA on this drive. Back to L.A for a tribute to Lemmy and then down to NOLA for another Krewe du Who Mardi Gras, my last act before leaving was to secure tickets for Guns n Roses triumphant return at Coachella.
Returning for 420 and my first “Party in the Parking Lot” Rainbow anniversary, where I got to see Junkyard live, a band I had waited over twenty years to see, roadtrips in the green beast included Laughlin River Run and recreating the wine tour journey from the movie “Sideways” with my brother, including staying in their very hotel room!
Summer 2016 brought more GnR gigs in San Diego and hometown shows at Dodger Stadium, followed by Lemmy’s statue unveiling at the Rainbow. I took part in my first 420 Games at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco; a 4.2 mile course intended to show the general public that cannabis consumers are not all lazy stoners. I took my first trip to Portland at summer’s end, hosted by some fine folk I met at Burning Man, Oregon being the latest state to open itself up to recreational sales and I visited my first smoking lounge. I also stopped in the Humboldt area on the way back to L.A, to get a sense of where it all began.
I decided to make my second serious investment towards the end of 2016 with product testing employment as a bonus but this proved to be my first mistake in the business; trusting in a person rather than facts and figures. Little did I know then it would also cost me around a year of my life.
We decided to spend New Year 2016 in Lake Tahoe for skiing and checking out a friend’s dispensary there, staying at the Hard Rock. 2017 started with a roadtrip from Las Vegas through Death Valley to San Francisco via St Luis Obispo. I got to visit Jane’s Brew edible and drink manufacturers who gave me a smorgasboard of products to test. This trip was punctuated by a detour to the East coast to catch the inaugural run of shows by The Magpie Salute in NYC, featuring the most productive members of my favourite band, The Black Crowes.
Returning in April we visited Axl Roses’s house and I enjoyed 420 in the company of Cypress Hill and Snoop Dogg live at the Greek which included a meet n greet and extremely smokey VIP seating! I displayed the green beast in a local car show and we did our first Venice Electric Bike Parade, lighting up the boardwalk in a 6 mile round trip. Impressed by the Lemmy mural UK artist Jules Muck (muckrock) did by the Rainbow, I commissioned her to do a RocknRoll’em one in my back yard!
Having travelled from L.A. to NYC and back in January then London and back in April to see The Magpie Salute, September brought a West Coast tour and I drove 4000 miles to see them all around California, Las Vegas, Oregon and Washington, a dream come true of intimate gigs where I got to meet my heroes and we were on first name terms by the end. Despite brakes and a tire going I made it safely back to L.A.
After a six month sabbatical this brings us almost to the present day, dear reader and I hope the journey from now on can be enjoyed as much as recounting what has gone before.
ROCK N ROLL’EM!
