Some would argue that it’s counterintuitive, frivolous, and even perhaps just a little cattywampus for the editor of the main hashish journal on this planet to ship a tattooed, bald author to a music competition in Louisville, Kentucky referred to as Bourbon & Past to evaluate the heartbeat of the hashish tradition in that neck of the woods. They may even throw stones at such a daring task that, of their minds, solely serves to glorify the alcohol business whereas their treasured plant, as unlawful as all get out within the Bluegrass State, will get the dishonor of being the red-headed, bastard stepchild that no person needs to play with. No less than not whereas their actual mates are round.
There could even be these hashish conservatives who’ll argue that mingling with any extension of the subjugated south, a spot seemingly chock stuffed with flag-praising good ole boys with crimson, white, and blue constitutions, pounding down brown liquor in pursuit of the maniacal mindset that’s been, now and again, identified to provide wife-beaters and social louses shouldn’t be given the time of day. However they’d be lifeless mistaken. Useless mistaken. If something, Kentucky, an space of cockeyed politics, the place the absurdity that dropped out of Nixon’s Republican asshole practically 5 a long time in the past is being perpetuated by the ire of slack-jawed McConnellism, is exactly the place to be.
My mission, if I, in fact, selected to simply accept it (and I did with out pondering twice), was to roam this transient Valhalla of bourbon distilleries and music in seek for a few of that Kentucky Bluegrass. You understand, marijuana, weed, smoke, pot. A lot to my shock, nonetheless, upon arriving on Thursday night, I didn’t need to go searching very far. Amidst the mélange of odors, together with pizza, BBQ, noodles, and low-cost cologne, pot smoke was additionally prevalent all through the competition. This was attention-grabbing seeing as organizers maintained strict bans towards this form of factor. Any unlawful drug use was strictly prohibited. They went so far as to explicitly level out of their entry insurance policies that even hashish and hashish merchandise had been an enormous, dangerous no-no. There was a excessive safety and police presence posted at each gate to implement this measure, too. Luggage had been being searched, metallic detectors had been activated, K9 models might be seen sniffing round. No sir, the supposed riffraff with the reefer wasn’t getting past the gates with any of that inexperienced stuff, it doesn’t matter what. In the event that they tried, they’d have Louisville’s best to deal with. But, from the place I used to be standing, simply minutes earlier than Alanis Morrisette took the stage, their anti-stoner procedures had failed, and failed miserably.
Because the solar slumped into the horizon, plumes of pot smoke wafted throughout the Highland Competition Grounds like a bomb went off. “Somebody’s smoking marijuana,” one man shouted within the distance.
Certainly, they had been.
Now, I wasn’t stunned in regards to the festivalgoers’ incapability to behave like good girls and boys. You simply can’t go dropping over 100 thousand individuals right into a subject beneath the warmth of a Kentucky sky for 4 days straight, feeding them a vast provide of laborious liquor and anticipate civil society to parade round and smile fairly. Louisville is, in any case, Bourbon Metropolis. If this occasion was to shake out to be something just like what I’ve witnessed on the Kentucky Derby in earlier years, the competition was destined to turn out to be a menagerie of foul beasts, all with a propensity for violence as soon as the strains to the Porta-Potties acquired too lengthy. If the shortcoming to take a whizz as soon as nature referred to as didn’t get them riled up sufficient to unleash their savage wrath, they might absolutely stand up with wild-eyed ferocity as soon as they checked their financial institution accounts and noticed that these $18 beers had been going to have them homeless by the top of the month. I, for one, was prepared for something. However did anybody else know what they had been getting themselves into? Doubtfully. By Saturday, at the very least in my thoughts, attendees wouldn’t solely want to come back totally ready to endure desert-like circumstances but additionally cloaked in plastic or perhaps even battle armor to guard them from the whiskey-drenched carnage that may absolutely loom as soon as the darkness set in and people bourbon bellies erupted.
Pearl Jam was set to headline Saturday’s festivities. The band, whose hits embrace “Jeremy,” and “Daughter,” hadn’t performed anyplace within the Midwest in roughly ten years, and perhaps for good cause. Their uncommon presence meant that each class of character from soccer mothers to Yoo-hoo women to quite a lot of man-fans of various ranges of testosterone could be there too, all summoning their inside, flannel-sporting youth, totally ready for a time quake of nostalgia. The celebration could be one the place twinges of teenage rebel, recollections of past love, and even perhaps less complicated instances may presumably invoke a slew of deep-seated feelings and set even essentially the most steady fan who’s had one too many pictures on the right track for a nasty response. Weirdos, oddities, upstanding residents, and different random creatures of the night time had come to rage, and perhaps even cry.
On this potential state of affairs, there’s just one factor to do: Shield your self always. Though there was undoubtedly a heavy stoner presence all through the competition, they had been nonetheless seemingly outnumbered by the whiskey bent and hellbound pushing the expertise to the purpose of toilet-hugging remorse. A person named Jarred, who stated he got here for the bands, not the bourbon, instructed me that he felt like every fallout could be “cool” if the occasion would simply let individuals toke up.
“A whole lot of these individuals had been too scared to attempt bringing it in,” he stated in regards to the ticketholders’ response to competition coverage towards pot consumption. “I knew they wouldn’t be trying that shut. They by no means do.”
Live shows and weed have all the time gone hand in hand. Lengthy earlier than hashish was ever a consideration when it comes to authorized commerce anyplace in the US, marijuana aficionados, hippies, metallic heads, and even perhaps a Peter, Paul & Mary fan or two loaded up in hatchbacks, VWs, and jacked up Monte Carlos with racing stripes and magazine wheels in a quest to see a efficiency from their favourite bands.
The primary time I smelled marijuana, the truth is, was in a Nineteen Seventies mannequin Chevy van with a grey, howling wolf airbrushed on the aspect. It was 1987 and I used to be en path to see Mötley Crüe with a buddy, his mother, and one among her mates. Not solely did his mother supply me a success within the parking zone, however so did 5 different, totally grown males through the present. No, I didn’t settle for. I used to be solely twelve and had totally purchased into the Simply Say No propaganda they’d been feeding us at college. I used to be scared to demise that weed would both kill me or flip me into some deformed monstrosity that resembled Jason Voorhees. I might quickly be taught, nonetheless, that in case you went to a rock present, you’d higher be ready to catch a whiff of weed. You would possibly even get the chance to smoke some. It didn’t matter in case you hadn’t but grown hair in your balls. For my technology, pot usually got here earlier than puberty.
It was seemingly simpler to smuggle weed right into a venue again within the day. All a intelligent stoner needed to do was put a couple of joints in his shoe and it could go unnoticed. The one safety guard making an attempt to get 1000’s of rabid followers via the turnstile at $5.50 an hour didn’t care sufficient to implement drug coverage. So long as somebody wasn’t carrying a shank, firearm, or nunchucks (hey, I knew a man who tried that), they didn’t give a rattling.
Nonetheless, Kentucky is an odd place politically, even in 2022. There have been many makes an attempt through the years to reform the drug legal guidelines throughout the state, particularly these geared towards legalizing marijuana. However lawmakers have continued to close down the idea of a taxed and controlled market. They gained’t even budge when it comes to permitting it for use for therapeutic functions. State legislation requires petty pot offenders to be charged with a misdemeanor, punishable with as many as 45 days in jail and a $250 tremendous. However the judicial system is seemingly bored with messing with low stage offenses. There’s not lots of judges nowadays adhering to the state’s antiquated statute on pot possession, in response to a festivalgoer I spoke with named Jesse. “I acquired popped for round an oz. a couple of counties over years in the past and so they simply gave me a $50 tremendous.”
Studies from the Louisville-Courier Journal present {that a} small tremendous is a typical response to first-time offenders statewide.
Some Kentucky municipalities have eradicated prison penalties for pot possession lately. Louisville, dwelling of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, is one among them. The Metro Council decriminalized minor pot possession in 2019, making the “investigation, citations, and arrests” pertaining to grownup possession of a “small quantity of marijuana” the bottom legislation enforcement precedence. It’s not a extremely publicized ordinance, so vacationers are sometimes at nighttime. However not the locals.
“No one actually worries about weed round right here anymore,” a younger Greta Van Fleet fan named Brad instructed me. “That’s why I don’t perceive why the competition cares if we convey it or not.”
The factor is, they most likely don’t. Nonetheless, so long as marijuana stays unlawful on the federal stage, permitting a Schedule I managed substance—the identical classification as meth and heroin—onto the fairgrounds will surely cripple the organizer’s means to safe basic legal responsibility insurance coverage. And man, contemplating the quantity of bourbon that was being served in that place, they want all they’ll fucking get! It’s not just like the competition was permitting individuals to herald alcoholic drinks both. Nope, they had been unwittingly forcing patrons to dump their first born and/or tackle a second mortgage to afford the ridiculously priced beer, cocktails, and sure, each model of bourbon possible being bought wherever individuals weren’t pissing it out. Had hashish achieved authorized standing like alcohol, ganja would have presumably obtained the identical capitalistic courtesy. They’d have additionally gouged the shit out of it.
“If it had been authorized, we couldn’t afford to get excessive right here,” Ashton from Lexington, Kentucky instructed me. “I’ll all the time convey my very own.”
By the point Pearl Jam went on Saturday night time, I knew, and with out query, that the gatekeepers of the Bourbon & Past competition certainly didn’t give a shit. Not about weed, they didn’t. The smoke wafting throughout the fairgrounds throughout Thursday’s lineup, as Alanis Morrisette and Jack White closed the night with killer units, was no match for the odoriferous pungency assaulting my olfactory senses as soon as Eddie Vedder and crew plugged in. Positive, the bourbon continued to circulate like a busted sewer line all through their two-hour set. That was evident. Girls had been storming off left and proper as their beer-bellied important others chased them down in protest of some perceived dangerous conduct. Arms had been grabbed and hearts had been presumably damaged.
One man that handed me was so ripped out of his gourd that he folded backward as if he had simply popped out of the Circus Circus, elevator scene from Concern and Loathing in Las Vegas the place Hunter’s lawyer, Dr. Gonzo, searches his coat for a lighter, jabbering about how he thinks “there’s one thing mistaken with me.” I couldn’t assist however giggle. “Man, that dude goes to be a chief candidate for a mind transplant by morning,” I believed to myself. There was one thing undoubtedly mistaken with him. Many others stumbled via the grass like bourbon-dazed zombies, conceivably uncertain of their whereabouts, trying to find solutions that I used to be positive they might by no means discover. From the stage, even Vedder may inform that the gang was south of crocked, particularly calling out a person in the midst of the herd that he known as “Frank” for disconnecting from actuality. “I’m undecided if it’s from the bourbon or the past,” Vedder stated.
Don’t get me mistaken. Though I did, the truth is, concern that jungle legislation would inevitably take over if the barrels didn’t run dry (or in the event that they did), and we’d all need to resort to some slightly ruthless techniques to make it out alive, the air of the occasion remained fairly peaceable. I by no means as soon as noticed anybody get their ass kicked or dragged out by police kicking and screaming. Hey man, that’s slightly spectacular, contemplating that Saturday night time’s attendance consisted of a record-breaking 110,000 bourbon drinkers and hellraisers. Many neighborhood bars can’t even preserve their patrons from throwing fists as soon as greater than fifty individuals begin consuming collectively, however someway festivalgoers reached a truce. Positive, Bourbon & Past was a sardine can beneath Kentucky’s slice of the universe, however an asylum it was not, even with the correct of individuals. Until you depend the nuts, who dropped a month’s wage on overpriced booze for 4 days of enjoyable, then I suppose we had been all certifiable. Oh nicely, all within the spirit of fine instances. Ship within the Ibuprofen.
The soundtrack to this lunacy, nonetheless, was one which I gained’t quickly overlook. Thanks for that, Kentucky. For all these {couples} discussing divorce within the weeks to come back, I want you one of the best of luck. Competition, harm emotions, and every part that manifests from the rumble is, sadly, usually par for the carousal. Maybe within the years to come back, the state’s legislative forces will get critical about legalizing the leaf and provides their in any other case law-abiding residents extra choices than Jim and Jack. Not everybody can maintain their liquor. And never everybody can get stoned beneath the present legal guidelines.
Surprisingly, a lot of the bands scheduled to carry out didn’t use their platform to face up for marijuana legalization. Not even Alanis Morrisette, who admitted to Excessive Instances again in 2010 that she was an avid pot fan. However that didn’t matter. She was nonetheless some of the ass-kicking highlights of all the weekend, and she or he did play “Mary Jane.” Nonetheless, Pearl Jam, arguably the most important act to grace the stage, spoke out just a little on the difficulty. It occurred after Eddie Vedder noticed a younger, 10-year-old fan within the entrance row jamming out to the live performance along with his household. Dad and mom take be aware: That’s the way you increase well-rounded kids. After just a little banter in regards to the youth preserving rock n’ roll alive, Eddie reached out to the younger man with a lighthearted warning.
“I used to be going to lecture you over the hazards of pot smoking, however it’s not even authorized in Kentucky,” he declared. “However maybe by the point you get sufficiently old to try this, will probably be, and also you’ll be capable to make the choice for your self. You’re clearly a sensible child with nice style in music. He’ll be tremendous,” the singer concluded.
Who is aware of, perhaps all of us would. Positive, there might be some people who fuck all of it up, whereas others will be taught to handle, survive, and even prosper within the wake of no matter freedoms the controls of our respective states resolve we’re deserved. That has been the case because the inception of this factor referred to as America. However even the accountable slip and fall. That’s no excuse to proceed punishing the inhabitants beneath the phantasm that Uncle Sam cares about our security and well-being. We don’t want that. By no means did. We’re grown-ups and, as Eddie Vedder so eloquently put it, able to making our personal decisions. Many will be taught from their errors. Others gained’t. They’ll carry on making an attempt and by no means obtain any stability in life, blaming everybody else for his or her issues. However not all of us are the identical. It’s vital to know that the societal downtrodden can’t all the time be anticipated to do the fitting factor, and so they can’t all the time be saved from themselves. Providing some semblance of safety and hope for his or her futures with silly legal guidelines gained’t clear up the issue. It’s actually no profit to the remainder of us. Dumb shit will all the time see that folks go to jail, and dumb individuals will all the time find yourself there. It doesn’t actually matter who’s held accountable. The politicians and residents are equally guilty for holding up and, in some instances, reversing progress. Nonetheless, that is the mistaken path. We, each single one among us, ought to embrace frequent sense and all the time attempt to transfer ahead, even when we don’t all the time agree. Thanks once more, Kentucky. We’ll see you in two-to-three years for Bourbon, Bud & Past.