BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?

Subject: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: GUEST,Ashley
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 03:32 AM

I'm into folk, and pot. Are the two traditionally a good mix? All opinions appreciated!

Subject: RE: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 03:41 AM

Smoking ANYTHING is a damn' dopey thing to do! You like "pot"?---Eat it.

Subject: RE: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 04:15 AM

This is not a good forum to post this. Previous threads indicate a VERY strong bias.

Subject: RE: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: alanabit
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 05:58 AM

Well, when I was younger. It sure "folked" my music up (spelling is not my strongpoint)and did not exactly fire me up to practise. I am not anti pot - other than the fact that I don't wish to inhale smoke any more. I think most of us move on.

Subject: RE: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: greg stephens
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 06:07 AM

Bit like shagging really. Crazy for it when you're young. Then you get past it and think up reasons why it's a Bad Thing. Always very difficult convincing the younger generation about these things, I wonder why?

Subject: RE: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 06:16 AM

Tried that funny smelling tobbaco a couple of times, I didn't think much to it, (it just made me feel drowsy) so I can't really see the attraction.I much prefer a couple of drinks.A word of warning though-I know loads of mad people, and every one of them has smoked cannabis, some of them have now got serious mental health problems (convinced their house is being bugged by spies etc and all kinds of other weird shit!).From what I have seen heavy use of cannabis can really screw your brains up.

Subject: RE: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: greg stephens
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 06:20 AM

mmmmm! So can a couple of drinks.

Subject: RE: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: Gervase
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 06:23 AM

It's not too bad as a listerner, but can bugger up the performance a bit - losing the thread is all too easy!
I knew a boddhran player, however, who could only play well when stoned. Straight, he was dull as ditchwater, but stoned he had a subtlety and deftness which was awesome. Very dull man, though!

Subject: RE: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 06:37 AM

Gervase: All bodhran players sound better after a few pints! (it all depends who's drinking the pints)

Nigel

Subject: RE: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: ozmacca
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 06:37 AM

Never tried it, never wanted to try it, never felt like trying it...... Your mind's too valuable a piece of kit to risk damaging it in exchange for a doubtful enhancement of the imagination. That goes for drink as well. Been there and don't do it any more. Sorry if I seem stolid or old fashioned, but I've seen some of the results and it ain't worth it.... Most people can get all the enhanced enjoyment they need by educating the mind to develop.

Down off the soapbox........

Subject: RE: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: GUEST,Brian
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 06:42 AM

Gervase. Stoning bodhrad players, now there's an idea!

Personally, I don't smoke anything these days, and prefer a smoke free (of any flavour) environment anyway. Other than that, to each his/her own.

Like JfH, tried it a couple of times in younger days, but not that impressed.

Brian

Subject: RE: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: Celtic Soul
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 06:45 AM

Gotta say, no from here. Have never been into it, and never will be.

Subject: RE: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: GUEST,Brian
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 06:52 AM

Greg. I grew out of smoking, I never did grow out of the other. can't see a damn thing now! :-)

Brian

Subject: RE: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 07:31 AM

I tried smoking pot at university, I'm not into it now, I don't see the fascination. Oh BTW, I have quit smoking cigarettes!!! It has been 7 days since I had one, I'm not craving them and I not really that bothered. I feel great! Anyone that knows me always saw me with a pint in one hand and a cig in the other at sessioms and festivals. Well not anymore!!!!!

A smoke free Cat .....meow!

Subject: RE: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 07:34 AM

Guess it gets back to how you define 'folk'

If 1960s singer songwriters with acoustic guitars are 'folk' to you, then it probably is.

If however, 'folk' means older traditional songs to you, then no it isn't.

Subject: RE: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: Kelticgrasshopper
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 08:19 AM

Bodhran Bashing again..Come on now..A "smoking" drummer, pun intended..is the heart beat of any Celtic group. You know it, anyone who listens too and appreciates good Celtic/Irish music knowes it!! The "drummers" that have show up at sessions and pound away have given the rest of us a BAD rep. Please be kind enough to admit that "sometimes" the bodhran is an enjoyable part of a music presentation....I can't wait to see what is said about this one.. LOL

KGH

Subject: RE: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: GUEST,Brian
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 08:48 AM

Kelticgrasshopper. My comment was an off the cuff joke, with no malice intended to anyone. Sorry it touched your tender spot.

'Please be kind enough to admit that "sometimes" the bodhran is an enjoyable part of a music presentation'. O.K. I admit it. Who knows what dizzy heights a band might reach while stood on a bodhran. :-) Happy now?

To get this thread back on track.

Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?

No. Not IMO. I've never known of pot smoking make anybody into a folkie. I have known of it turn a few folkies (and others) into a complete mess.

Brian

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: GUEST,Kim C
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 10:14 AM

Never cared for it. It stinks, it makes your throat dry, and makes your contact lenses stick to your eyeballs.

I tried it maybe, 4-5 times, ever. The last time I smoked, about 15 years ago, I got really bad throwin-up sick. So I never did it again.

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: GUEST,Gern
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 10:27 AM

Is it a 'folk' thing to do? Not necessarily; I would never recommend it to anyone. I've used it for years and still enjoy it. Plenty of musicians I know use it regularly, and I've never seen it pose a problem, except to those who already had problems. I'm sure some of the 'just say no' crowd speaking here in opposition to pot choose to enjoy far more toxic substances, like whisky and tobacco. Pot has never interfered with my performance or impacted my mental ability in the least; if anything, it inspires me to practice more. Voters in Nevada will have a chance to vote on legalizing small amounts of it this fall, and I say, go for it. We need the jail space for all the crooked politicians and accountants anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: GUEST,Foe
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 10:43 AM

Back in olden days, 1940s, pot was a jazz thing. Gene Kruper got busted once. In Tucson, in the early 60s, if anyone wanted to smoke they had to go to South Tucson to by a reefer (the other side of the tracks - so to speak). The Arizona Pioneers Historical Society museum had a little pile of smokes in a glass case said to be confiscated from Chinese RR workers in the 1880s. I believe someone once told Dylan he should smoke before he performed and he said he'd tried it once (before performing) and it threw his timing off. If you're serious about your music no magic substance will make you play better.

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: mack/misophist
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 10:54 AM

I thought I was going to be the first to say this but Guest Foe beat me to it. Get stoned if you want. It probably won't do any harm, if you stay out of jail. Don't perform stoned. How can anything that screws up your timing behind the wheel of a car, improve it behind a guitar(or a bodhran)?

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 11:15 AM

Ah, yes, how foolish it all is...

I will quote Joan Baez, who once said (back in the glorious 60's) "It's silly to make marijuana illegal...of course, it's silly to smoke it too."

That's exactly how I feel about it. To smoke any substance is silly. Pot smoke stinks, it dries out your throat, and it definitely does not help you play music better. It's bad for your lungs and it makes your eyes hurt too.

Every young generation does idiotic and basically innocuous things in their search for experience and identity. Some pierce their bodies with multiple metal objects, some get tattoos, some adopt hairstyles that would frighten a mandrill, some smoke pot, some drink and suffer a miserable hangover the next day. Most of them manage to survive these practices in the long run, although alcohol ends quite a few lives prematurely, as do cigarettes. Pot doesn't end lives, it just trivializes them.

Silly, silly, silly...

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: Gypsy
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 11:24 AM

Hate labels.....if you are going to smoke, smoke. If you are going to drink, drink. But don't do it at my session. We stay totally clean, and on the same level. Sure makes it easier to play with a group of people when all are like minded.

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: Ebbie
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 11:25 AM

Paranoia Alert

In today's USA political climate a public forum might not be the best place to 'come out', so to speak...

For the record, I have never tried it.

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: greg stephens
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 11:39 AM

for the record I have, but of course I didnt inhale.

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: IvanB
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 11:46 AM

Ebbie, I frankly doubt that our president could truthfully deny having used substances less legal than alcohol - and the "I didn't inhale" excuse has already been taken.

I agree with Guest, Foe that it's probably been more traditionally associated with jazz artists. Never thought it was much of a big deal, although I thought brownies were a much more pleasant means of ingestion than smoking it, both for the ingestee and those around.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE NO-NO SONG (Ringo Starr)
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 11:49 AM

Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band

C     G   F    C
  Ahhhh-ahh-ahhh-ahhh
  C     G   F    C
  Ahhhh-ahh-ahhh-ahhh    

C             G                   F      C
  A lady that I know just came from Columbia.
      F                              C
  She smiled because I did not understand.
  C                           F
  Then she held out some marijuana, oh-ho.
      G                               C
  She said it was the best in all the land.    

             C
  And I said, "No-no-no-no, I don't smoke it no more.
                                G
  I'm tired of waking up on the floor.
  G7
  No thank you, please; it only makes me sneeze,
                                    C
  Then it makes it hard to find the door."    

Ahhhh-ahh-ahhh-ahhh
  Ahhhh-ahh-ahhh-ahhh    

A lady that I know just ?Myoca?, Spain.
  She smiled because I did not understand.
  Then she held out a ten-pound bag of cocaine.
  She said it was the best in all the land.    

And I said, "No-no-no-no, I don't * no more.
  I'm tired of waking up on the floor.
  No thank you, please; it only makes me sneeze,
  Then it makes it hard to find the door."    

A man I know just came from Nashville, Tennessee-o.
  He smiled because I did not understand.
  Then he held out come moonshine whiskey, oh-ho.
  He said it was the best in all the land.    

And I said, "No-no-no-no, I don't drink it no more.
  I'm tired of waking up on the floor.
  No thank you, please; it only makes me sneeze,
  Then it makes it hard to find the door."    

I said, "No-no-no-no, I can't take it no more.
  I'm tired of waking up on the floor.
  No thank you, please; it only makes me sneeze,
  Then it makes it hard to find the door."

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

HTML preformat commands added. --JoeClone, 15-Nov-02.

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: GUEST,maryrrf
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 11:51 AM

I heard they had just decriminalized cannabis in the UK - rather ambivalently since it seems it's okay to possess and smoke but illegal to deal in it. Does this mean you can roll a joint just about anywhere and smoke it, as long as you're reasonably discreet?

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: Noreen
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 11:56 AM

Either time, greg? :0)

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: pict
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 12:05 PM

They haven't decriminalised it they have reclassified it to a class C drug so it's not an arrestable offence to posess a small amount but it is still an arrestable offence to deal it or grow it.The class C status means that the UK government views cannabis to be as dangerous as steroids and anti depressants.

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 12:06 PM

All I can offer is from personal experience. Used to do it. Quit some time ago.

In retrospect I realize I had developed a big case of what I think the mental health folks call "state-conditioned learning". The premise is that if you learn how to do something in an altered state of consciousness, you don't do it as well in a normal state. The only time I wanted to play music was when I was stoned. When I was stoned, the only thing I wanted to do was play music. I could play straight, it just wasn't any fun. If I listen to old tapes of my stoned self playing, I hear a very idiosyncratic style that was not really well adapted to playing in a band. Pot made me listen to what was coming out of my instrument instead of the other band members. Several folks remarked on how much more solid my playing was after I quit smoking.

I still have lots of friends that smoke, and I don't have any problem with it. They do it for their reasons - I quit for mine.

Bruce

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: greg stephens
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 12:12 PM

Sorry, Noreen.it does make you repetitive and boring.

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: Noreen
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 12:23 PM

:0)

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 12:29 PM

There is no direct connection between Pot Smoking and folk music, it's just that in the 60's and early 70's many of the sort of people who went in for one tended to go in for the other. I can think of one well-known fiddle player who did use pot a lot and whose health has suffered seriously as result. On the other hand, I also know a folk magazine editor in her 60's who still enjoys a spliff, and is in very good health.

I used to enjoy the odd joint, but I don't like smoking (or smoky atmospheres) so it's something I grew out of. Mind you, I wouldn't turn down the odd hash cookie !

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: little john cameron
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 12:51 PM

Ah forgot what I was going to say!! hahahahehehah.ljc

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: GUEST,McGrath
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 01:01 PM

I can't see why they stop at Class C, with the rest if the alphabet still available. I'd like to see a Class D for Tobacco and Alcohol, Class E for Coffee and Chocolate. I'd put Pot in one of those categories.

Mormons arre the only consistent people on drugs. They ban those Class D and E ones as well.

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: greg stephens
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 01:03 PM

Shouldnt tea be in there with coffee and chocolate?

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: GUEST,Mike Cahill
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 01:21 PM

My day job involves working with 16-25 yr olds some smoke pot or do other drugs, some drink to excess and some are just young adults trying to make their way in the world. The pot smokers, (and those who do Amphetamines) have a tendancy to have more problems with life than the others, as these two drugs seem to distroy ambition, and enthusiasm, and can tip a fragile mind over the edge. Also long term use means they are mixing with criminals who have a vested intrest in keeping them on the stuff, and moving them onto harder drugs. Last month I visited three different YP in various Mental Hospitals. This is not dogma, just 18 years experience.

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: DougR
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 01:32 PM

Probably, Guest Ashley, but if you want to be a REAL Folkie, you got to blow the smoke out of the left side of your mouth and Your left nostril. :>)

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 01:47 PM

"They are mixing with criminals who have a vested intrest in keeping them on the stuff, and moving them onto harder drugs."

Which is the main argument for decriminalising the stuff. As for ambition and enthusiasm - if you're short on ambition and enthusiasm, smoking a lot of dope might be particularly attractive. In which case the attitude would be the cause rather than the effect of using.

Graham Greene once suggested that all restrictions on these kind of things could be abolished once you reach the age of 50 or so. Makes a lot of sense. It'd probably put most most young people off the whole thing. Except that what they'd go in for instead would probably be far worse.

I don't get it - it's legal to have bits of metal inserted in all parts of the body, with all kinds of potentially dangerous dangerous consequences, but smoking a joint or eating a hash brownie is a crime.

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: greg stephens
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 01:58 PM

Like Mike Cahill I work with young people with problems, but I have to say I draw different conclusions. I wouldn't dream of saying pot is totally harmless: but if I started listing the things that were generating the problems in the kids'lives, in order of importance, it would be a helluva long way down the list before I got to pot-smoking. Like McGrath, I would classify it in the symptoms column, not among the causes.

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: Anon
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 02:00 PM

granny wont ya smoke some, granny wont ya smoke some, granny wont ya smoke some MARIJUANA!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: Chip2447
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 02:32 PM

BTDT...got the T-shirt. I have a tenuous enough grasp on reality as it is, I dont need any outside help to make me goofy, lazy, hungry, or the myriad of other things that cannibis consuption will do for you, or to you. Wonder why they call it dope?
Chip2447

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: weepiper
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 03:10 PM

Agree with Greg Stephens here... I think the 'cannabis turns you into a loser' argument is totally wrong. The sort of people who become apathetic after smoking lots of dope would probably have done so anyway. I smoked my wee head off all through university and held down a part-time job and still managed to get a First. Likewise the 'gateway to harder drugs' theory. I've never been in the least tempted to try anything harder though I know several people who do. I just don't see the attraction. I have to say though that the gateway thing is really an argument FOR legalisation because if you have to go to a dealer to get dope, then it's putting you right in front of all those harder drugs.

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: RichM
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 03:38 PM

Well, Yeah! It IS a folk thing...
At the risk of appearing trite, ain't never seen no horse do it...

:)

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: Don Firth
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 04:13 PM

No, pot is not a folk thing. Not compared to jazz, and especially not if you compare it to rock. I can't speak for other parts of the world, but in the Seattle area during the Fifties there was plenty of opportunity for pot to rear its head, but it just wasn't in evidence. It was used by a few jazz musicians in this area, though. In the early Sixties, suddenly it seemed as if everybody was using the stuff, but in reality, most of the folk singers and folk song enthusiasts that I was acquainted with (not just in Seattle) didn't use it. About four or five singers out of a dozen or so who sang regularly at one particular coffee house seemed to be heavily into the stuff, and I knew a few people who were not especially into folk music who smoked it, but it seemed to be more of a Sixties thing than a folk music thing.

Assuming I'm covered by the statute of limitations, I was persuaded to try it in 1964. It made me a bit woozy, and I experienced minor space-time anomalies for a brief period, but to me, it wasn't that great a thrill. I woke up the following morning with my mouth tasting like a cesspool, and it was difficult to concentrate because I felt very fuzzy-headed. This was highly annoying because I was at a folk festival and there was a workshop that morning that I was especially interested in and I wanted to be sharp (the people I'd been with the previous evening missed the workshop entirely). A couple of months later I was persuaded to try it again. This time, I didn't even have the space-time anomalies, it just made me feel like I'd hyperventilated, and the following morning I had the same foul taste in my mouth. By then, I knew everything I wanted to know about pot. Hell, just gimme a beer!

This I did notice:— whenever the pot came out at a songfest (which was extremely rare until the mid-Sixties), those who indulged often sat around praising themselves and each other with comments like "Man, you've never sounded so good!" or "Man, I've never sounded so good!" when, in actuality, they were off-pitch half the time, they're sense of rhythm had vanished, and they were stumbling all over their fingerboards. Most of them played and sang a helluva lot better when they were straight. It's interesting to note that most of them aspired to fame and fortune, but they never actually worked at their music that hard. It occurred to me that they didn't really have to. Get together with a few like-minded friends, pass the joint around a few times, and they had their own Carnegie Hall right there in their cozy little cloud of pot smoke.

I quit smoking anything twenty-four years ago.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: RichM
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 04:13 PM

...on the other hand, as the song says: "Cocaine's for horses, not for men "

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 04:43 PM

Nice post, Don

Pot is great for dreamers, but not much help in real life

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 04:48 PM

"Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?"

Heh... is there ANYTHING that is a 'folk' thing to do?

Besides bickering on the internet about totally vacuous and inane topics?

Nope... not even that eh...

Subject: RE: BS: Is Pot Smoking a 'Folk' thing to do?
From: little john cameron
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 04:52 PM

Eh! What was the question again. ljc