As a librarian, I know that there is an awful lot to know. I do not profess to be a specialist, guru or hard core fan about anything. Passion about stuff, well, that's another story. But geek? Not so much.
Folks geek out on just about everything and anything these days. I imagine you can type just about any product name, hobby, sport, film, book, personage or personal interest in Google and come up with not only a definition and the current standing of that search but also forums, groups and special interest pages filled with folks who all seem to have a magnificent jones going on about the subject at hand and have more knowledge about the thing in question than they ever will about the US Constitution, the interests of their partners or the minutia or particulars of their profession. But then again,
I don’t identify that closely with my profession, either. I KNOW that there are hard core Librarians out there, folks who live and breathe what I do for a living. When folks come up to me, say, at a party or get together and ask what do you do, I don’t go the job title route. There are so many other things that I like to do that define me, far more than librarianship does. What do I do? I suppose I would have to qualify that question.
But even when it comes to my hobbies I am not so in depth with the subject that I bore myself to death. I think the bigger problem is that my brain is just not built that way. I get excited about stuff, become real nutty about things, become obsessed about a search but that's about it. Groove for awhile then drop the damn thing. Not so much other people. God bless their brains! I used to work with a great man back in my Seattle days who, when asked about the British Invasion, Chess Records or Duke Ellington, could go on for hours about any of those subjects. He had the artists, the disks and the musical eras down pat. My ex-father-in-law had sand rails and the sport of dune buggy racing tattooed to his soul.A good buddy of mine is into Tiger sports cars.
Other folks out there know all there is to know about weaving, brewing beer, Indian motorcycles or bodice ripper novelists. Me, I have a hard time memorizing things so I couldn’t tell you about, say, the particulars of the Crosby, Stills and Nash couch album, or of all the particulars that go into making Oaxacan mole, or what it means to be a true critic-worthy cinefile. All I know is that I like Mexican food, good film and rock music.
What I love about cannabis is that makes so many things so much better. I am not of the school that says I have to do marijuana in order to enjoy things. No, I can do just about anything and have a good time. But there is something to be said about how nice an overlay of dope can improve certain things.
Take for instance a walk. I like to walk, it’s my favorite form of exercise. With a pair of reasonable shoes, heck, even zoris, and an hour’s worth of time you can get not only your exercise groove on but you can also use that walk to transform your understanding of your neighborhood, improve the interior space of your mind, change your disposition for the better, build up an appetite, settle a full stomach, break a sweat and chase away the blues. Now, can you imagine how cool it would be to put a dab of cannabis on top of that? In a good setting, with nice weather, with a pair of headphones on and a nice walking partner, such joy could be had!
I love a good meal at the end of a satisfying marijuana session. There is nothing better, after an afternoon groove on the couch or out and about, to sit before the groaning board and greeze on a pile of ribs or a big bowl of fried rice or even a solitary celery stick. Something about dope and films, too, really rock my world. I am an almost every day movie watcher but the right film, a good sci-fi film or foreign black and white or colorful fantasy can really launch an everyday high into a monumental one.
And then there is music. Somehow I got lucky when it came to getting to know all about quality sound. Grass came into my life just about the same time big 70’s era stereos came into my life and the two have been intertwined ever since. I love recorded music. I buy it in ridiculous amounts, always have. As a kid I would walk for miles to hit up the local Goodwill As-Is yard and dig through the piles of vinyl, all sleeveless, just to see what was interesting. The great sadness, I am sure, is that I overlooked incredible gems back in the day because I had no idea what the hell I was looking at. These days I go for labels, artists and producers I know but also take away interesting album covers, musical styles that I am unfamiliar with and genres that I like but know nothing about the artist. Now, I can be picky about what to listen to when I am completely sober. But throw a glass of wine, a few beers or a bong hit at me and then music takes on a completely different flavor. I will then go all over the map. I can start with jazz and end up with Gamelan or show tunes or some obscure English folk rock band. With mota it’s all good.
Thanks to the Subic Bay Navy Exchange quality stereo gear came into my life. Going into that den of electronics iniquity changed the way that this young man looked at and appreciated stereo equipment, but also altered the way that I felt and experienced recorded sound. My shipmates and I happily jettisoned afternoons prowling about the Magsaysay in favor of trolling around in that air conditioned pleasure palace of electronic goods. Later, over San Miguels in the PO Club, we would argue over the benefits of big-bigger-biggest, not as it applied to the size of the breasts of the go-go dancers we gaped at while drinking at our favorite hard rock clubs but as it applied to the size of the speakers, the receivers and the reel-to-reel decks we spent the afternoon drooling over.
Speakers and stereo electronics from that era were generally all encased in solid wood or wood veneer. After hours and hours of cruising the aisles, soliciting opinions and gleaning advice I took home with me gear that looked almost more like furniture than it did musical devices. My first WestPac I went home with a nice mid-range Pioneer receiver, the SX-850, a good quality Technics turntable (the illustrious SL-1600), an 8-track deck (!) and a pair of Pioneer HPM-100 speakers. We set up those instruments of pleasure in our data processing shop and spent two months grooving to whatever tunes folks wanted play. Being out to sea meant that we kept late hours so music, very loud music, always accompanied our acey-ducey games, our geedunk runs and our late night mid-rat meals. Because were at sea on a man-o-war did not mean that we gave up our mota. On the contrary, we played cat and mouse for months with the Master at Arms. We would hide out in a fan room, smoke up and head back to our “secret” clearance office to continue our late night groove before the scent would find its way into some unsuspecting sleeping quarters or officer’s mess.
Those big speakers that rode the ocean waves are still moving around with me today. My musical tastes have continued to grow and my stereo systems have continued to evolve but playing music on those big speakers still remain my favorite way to listen to tunes. And while my old wood encased service era speakers remain in storage in far-away Washington I was happy to recently come across a pair of massive Sansui speakers at a local thrift store. I have been schlepping around a lot of smaller, bookshelf sized speakers the past few years, and while serviceable, have been lacking in roundness, warmth and power. Last week I combined a newer Pioneer Elite AV unit with those furniture class Sansuis and had the most satisfying music experience I have had in years. I know that I must have pissed off the neighbors that night but I had a mighty fine time. I know once I apply a big bowl of a good indica to that set up that my need for really loud sound will diminish remarkably.
What is even better is knowing that these days I can enjoy my music under the influence of cannabis and not be wondering if the music is going to bring down the heat. Today I don’t have that paranoia that I used to back in the day. I love the feeling knowing I have the power and the volume available to me but that I don’t have to use it. I can groove on the lightest dose of sound, put on those tunes and appreciate not only the complexities and thrills of my music but the fine nuances, variables and joy of my dope.
Getting older might mean having a nostalgia streak a mile wide. For me it means bringing things back into my life that matter, but with a sense of moderation and respect that I never had before.
Then again, on a Saturday morning, there is nothing quite as
fine as Led Zeppelin roaring in the living room! Loud and proud, indeed!
Salud!
Judge Reinholdt selling a pair of speakers to a metal head
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNzr6lfiHJEPioneer SX-850!
http://classicreceivers.com/pioneer-sx-850
Ah, Pioneer HPM-100s!!
http://www.audioclassic.org/pioneer-hpm-100-vintage-speakers.html
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