The lead single from Supertramp’s monster-sized selling album Breakfast in America was released in 1977, is still their biggest hit, rising to No. 7 in the United Kingdom and No. 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
6 Great Movies to Watch While Stoned
By Jennifer Gallagher
The advent of high-quality cheap cannabis seeds makes cultivating a stash of premium buds easier than ever. Once you’ve harvested the fruits of your labor, what better way to enjoy your haul than watching a classic weed movie?
You’re here for some great movie suggestions, so let’s jump in. Below, in no particular order, are six of the best flicks to enjoy with a well-packed bowl of buds.
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Over fifty years after its release, 2001: A Space Odyssey is still one of the most visually impressive stories ever. On top of its spectacular imagery, it tells a riveting tale about humanity and AI.
After discovering an alien monolith on the moon, Earth sends a ship towards Jupiter to learn more. With most of the crew in stasis, HAL 9000, an advanced artificial general intelligence, primarily handles the vehicle’s functions.
A seemingly innocuous order given to HAL spirals into a terrifying sequence of events with enormous ramifications for all humanity. If you like thought-provoking cerebral sci-fi, 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the best movies to watch while high, especially after you’ve arranged your stash through Online Weed Delivery Near Me.
2. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Rob Reiner’s 1984 debut is a masterwork of mockery. This Is Spinal Tap features Reiner as Marty DiBergi, an amalgamation of Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, Steven Spielberg, and Federico Fellini.
The fictional DiBergi goes on the road with the hardworking rock band Spinal Tap during a US comeback tour. The group has the dubious honor of being “England’s Loudest Band,” played by Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer.
The mockumentary is a tongue-in-cheek look at the world of eighties heavy metal. Equal parts realistic and ridiculous; it’s a must-see for music fans.
3. Half Baked (1995)
Half Baked is an all-time stoner favorite. Despite tanking at the box office, it’s garnered a cult following among potheads everywhere, and with good reason. Dave Chappelle, who wrote and produced the movie, stars in the lead role as Thurgood, the janitor.
One day, he discovers his workplace is lab-testing potent marijuana (Maui Wowie, to be precise). Thurgood “procures” a sample to share with his three best buds, with whom he shares an apartment.
After several hits from “Wesley Pipes” and “Billy-Bong Thornton,” the gang is thoroughly blazed and in desperate need of snacks. When a resupply run involving a Funyuns-loving police horse goes wrong, one of the group ends up incarcerated.
The rest of the gang spring into action (after a quick joint, of course) and begin formulating a plan. Eighty-two minutes of laughs, gaffes, and relatable stoner humor follow. Half Baked is one of, if not the absolute best high movies from the nineties.
4. Pineapple Express (2008)
If Half Baked is the best example of stoner cinema from the nineties, Pineapple Express takes the title for the noughties. Seth Rogen stars as Dale, a pothead process server who’s started buying weed from dealer Saul, played by James Franco.
After indulging in some exotic Pineapple Express weed, Dale returns to work. While taking a smoke break, he witnesses Ted Jones, a ruthless drug kingpin, murder a man with the assistance of a cop.
In his haste, Dale discards his half-finished joint on the street, which is later identified by Jones thanks to its unique contents. This discovery sends Dale and Saul on the run from some heavy-duty criminals.
If you’re looking for a fabulous 420 movie, this comedy thriller deserves a place on your to-watch list.
5. Friday (1995)
This 1995 movie is another buddy stoner movie written by and starring Ice Cube. He plays Craig, a slacker living in Los Angeles with his best friend and small-time dealer Smokey, played by Chris Tucker.
After getting high on Smokey’s supply, the pair run afoul of not-so-small-time dealer Big Worm. Upon finding out they smoked all his product, he issues an ultimatum: either they pay for the product, or he kills them both.
The movie follows Craig and Smokey as they spend the rest of their Friday desperately trying to come up with the cash. Despite terrible reviews, this weed movie spawned a series of sequels beloved by potheads everywhere.
6. Cheech & Chong’s Up In Smoke (1978)
Many people credit this 1978 flick for establishing the stoner movie genre. The film stars countercultural comedy duo Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong as Pedro de Pacas and Anthony “Man” Stoner.
After being kicked out by his parents, Anthony finds himself hitchhiking on the freeway with nowhere to go. The earnest Pedro picks him up, and the two share an absurdly large joint that seals their friendship.
What follows is a series of encounters, each wackier than the last, fueled by copious amounts of pot. The duo’s journey takes them from the USA to Mexico and back again via a van made entirely of weed.
While some may find the humor here a little too silly, for stoners, this funny and farcical flick is mandatory viewing. If you enjoy their first outing, the iconic dopey duo has lots more material for your viewing pleasure.
Turn On, Spark Up, Have Fun
This short list of stoner cinema should keep you entertained for at least a few hours. While being high isn’t required to enjoy most of these movies, they’re worth watching after a few tokes.
Jennifer Gallagher
Jennifer Gallagher, an experienced cannabis grower at SeedSupreme Seedbank. During a 7-year career in the marijuana growing business, Jennifer has gained a high competence in this field. As far as weed is concerned, she knows it all inside out. Jennifer is an expert in pot-growing, as well as cannabis types and their effects. She’s also familiar with all legislation nuances.
Canada’s Walk of Fame Announces 3 More Inductees: Barbara Frum, The Tragically Hip and Director X
Canada’s Walk of Fame adds three new Inductees to the distinguished ranks, each trailblazers in their respective fields who have profoundly impacted their careers. Today’s announcement includes broadcasting legend BARBARA FRUM, iconic rock band and humanitarians THE TRAGICALLY HIP, and prolific music video mastermind, DIRECTOR X.
These exceptional Canadians join a distinguished lineup of previously announced 2022 Inductees, including multidisciplinary sports hero Lionel Conacher, chart-topping R&B songstress Deborah Cox, the Canadian comedy institution that has been the Canadian launchpad for the biggest international comics, Just For Laughs and one of the Top 50 businesswomen in the world, Heather Reisman. Also previously announced 2022 Canada’s Walk of Fame Honourees Arkells are recipients of this year’s Allan Slaight Music Impact Honour.
Additional Inductees and Honourees to round out the Class of 2022 will be announced in the coming weeks representing the organization’s five pillars of recognition: Arts and Entertainment; Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy; Humanitarianism; Science, Technology and Innovation; Sports and Athletics.
Canada’s Walk of Fame Gala returns on December 3, 2022, set to take place at Beanfield Centre in Toronto, featuring star-studded red carpet arrivals, memorable performances and tributes from Canada’s brightest stars and Canada’s Walk of Fame alumni. A special broadcast will air at a later date on CTV.
Barbara Frum (Arts and Entertainment – Legend) – The Most Influential Woman in Canadian Broadcasting
Barbara Frum was one of the most recognized voices in Canada. As a journalist for CBC Radio’s “As It Happens” and subsequently for CBC TV’s “The Journal,” Frum was known for her direct style and hard-hitting questions, having interviewed more than 2600 people, including politicians, change-makers, celebrities and cult leaders. As a woman who rose to the top of her profession during the 1970s and ’80s, Frum is cited by many as an inspirational icon, the first one to shatter many barriers for women in her field. During her lifetime Frum’s achievements were recognized with a wide variety of accolades and awards including multiple honorary degrees, the National Press Club of Canada Award for Outstanding Journalism (1975), the Canadian Press Woman of the Year Award in the literature, arts, and education section (1976), and the Order of Canada (1979) and four Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) Awards. Frum’s newsmagazine program “The Journal” was so popular with Canadians that when she died prematurely, at the age of 54, in 1992, the national grief over her loss was described by Maclean’s Magazine as “a death in the family.”
For more than three decades, The Tragically Hip’s tireless activism and philanthropic pursuits have raised millions of dollars for multiple social and environmental causes, such as Camp Trillium, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Sunnybrook Foundation, WAR Child, the Special Olympics and the Unison Benevolent Fund. A quintessential band whose music captures the essence of being Canadian, they used their enormous megaphone in 2016 to shine a spotlight on the country’s systemic mistreatment of indigenous peoples. The legacy of the band’s frontman, the late Gord Downie, continues with The Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund, which aims to build cultural understanding and create a path toward reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Social media: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook.
Julien Christian Lutz, professionally known as (pka) Director X, is one of the most iconic music video directors of our time. The protégé of iconic director Hype Williams, Lutz is known for his trailblazing videos for some of the biggest music superstars in the world, such as Drake, Rihanna, Rosalia, Kendrick Lamar, and Kanye West, to name a few. A creative force, Julien’s credits also include the feature film, Superfly for Sony Studios produced by the legendary Joel Silver, art installations for Toronto’s Nuit Blanche, and the upcoming modern-day reimagining of the classic tale, Robyn Hood , featuring a fearless heroine as ‘Robyn’ that will air on Global. In addition, using his platform for social change, Julien founded Operation Prefrontal Cortex, an initiative to reduce Toronto’s gun violence through mindfulness and meditation. Social media: Instagram.
Photo Gallery: Goo Goo Dolls with Blue October at Toronto’s Budweiser Stage
All photos by Mini’s Memories. You can contact her at minismemories@hotmail.com
My Next Read: “Pride, Pop and Politics” by Darryl W Bullock
Fifty years on from Britain’s first Pride march, the long road to LGBT equality continues. Through protest songs and gay club nights, street theatre activism and fundraising concerts, the performing arts have played an influential role in each great stride made. With new interviews with musicians and DJs, performers and activists, including Andy Bell, Jayne County, John Grant, Horse McDonald and Peter Tachell, Pride, Pop and Politics hears from those whose art has been influenced by the campaign for LGBT rights – and helped push it forward. This informative, eye-opening book is the first to focus on the relationship between gay nightlife and political activism in Britain.
Photo Gallery: Santana with Earth Wind and Fire at Toronto’s Budweiser Stage
All photos by Mini’s Memories. You can contact her at minismemories@hotmail.com
Award-Winning Songwriter, Producer & Director BROOKE BURGESS Cheekily Embraces His “DADBOD”
Brooke Burgess is fully embracing his “DADBOD” with the release of a humour-laden anthem around self-acceptance and transformation.
Serving as both the title track and grand-finale release from his recent album, DADBOD, the award-winning artist, writer, producer, and director strings together an upbeat, rock-infused, and family-friendly flex about the aging process.
“I got a kid, and I got a Dadbod!” he chants across the track and its newly-minted video — a visual autograph indicative of his return to directing since his acclaimed animated comic series Broken Saints (2003-2008) took top nods at Sundance, telefilm, and won him CNMA Producer of the Year.
Currently the Narrative Director for a ground-breaking wellness technology firm based in the Netherlands, Burgess is a 25-year vet of the industry who found himself locked down in Southeast Asia during the peak of 2020’s pandemic.
“We were stuck on a tiny isle in southern Thailand,” he recalls. “The world was in lockdown; work was drying up… And thoughts of ‘mortality’ and ‘legacy’ were staring me straight in my increasingly wrinkled mug.”
But there was one saving grace, he grins.
“Three years earlier, I had become a Dad — and it was the best… thing… ever.”
In what Burgess calls “the legend of an incredible boy, the man transformed by his love, and the kind of bond that comes around once in a thousand lifetimes,” his 20-song-strong LP — complete with videos to match — arrived.
Drawing from his vast experience in writing, directing, and producing video games, animation, and interactive narrative and audio projects, Burgess let his imagination — and his son — guide the way. The album twists and turns across a variety of genres, and stories, marrying sights and sounds that come from an eclectic journey in the arts and media, and is the culmination of three years of inspired songwriting, creative collaboration, and remote production alchemy.
“Working with acclaimed Canadian talents including composer Tobias Tinker (various), Chrystal Leigh (Sons of Daughters), and many, many more from every continent without a pole, these songs and videos pull a Voltron to form a sword-swinging, head-bopping, genre-busting epic that’s an undeniable testament to creative passion, and parenting, and (at least on one track) paleontology,” Burgess explains.
Since its release last year, the album has stacked nearly 500,000+ streams across platforms, including YouTube, where what Burgess calls “saving the best for last” — the newly unveiled video for “DADBOD” — is on full dad-display.
And much like its comrades across the rest of the album, “DADBOD” is a truth-spilling thrill ride, set to delight and entertain.
“Thanks to my amazing media team at DEPHION,” Burgess says of the wellness tech firm he currently serves as Narrative Director for, “I was able to harness their talents and in-house facilities to produce and direct this final video for the series.
“We shot over the course of three days at the office in Geleen, and the video shows the father-and-son duo that we are sneaking into a top-secret facility to wreak havoc!”
Treats? They eat them all. Games? They play ‘em! “We even get 3D-scanned and have epic green-screen adventures,” Burgess hints before the final plot twist is revealed…
Spoiler alert: “When we’re finally cornered by office security, we stand tall and reveal our true superpower — the ‘DADBOD!’”
Saskatoon Rockers AUTOPILOT Unleash Their Take on The Cure’s “In Between Days” with New Release
Set it, and let it ride on Autopilot. Their latest rock offering “In Between Days” — available now — shatters the speakers and lauds itself in a tale of love lost packed with an indie punch, written and made famous by the incomparable 80s new-wave gurus, The Cure.
Forced to see through the pandemic through the making of their album, the Canadian three-piece have set their sights on conquering 2022 — back on the road with fury and furor, taking their rock sound live to the fans.
A group notably recognized for their debut release Afterglow (2018), Autopilot have acquired fans and critical success through their appearances at Canadian Music Week (CMW), Indie Week, AYE Fest, Fairfield Revival, and more. Additionally, the band earned the Best Rock/Pop Artist nod at the 2019 Saskatchewan Music Awards.
Dubbed “one of the hardest working bands in the country”, Autopilot has earned Earshot’s Top 50, the Top 200 for NACC North American College Charts, and specialty radio throughout North America. The band can be found in heavy rotation, reception, and placement on The Verge, Sirius XM’s Iceberg Radio, CBC, podcasts, and licensing placements throughout Canada and the US.
Now armed with “In Between Days,” the band with the low-fi, fuzzed-out 90s throwback soundscape are prepared to take the music to the masses. Their take on The Cure’s classic is a welcome back for a group forced to pause during 2020.
“Everything we’ve learned is on the table for 2022 and beyond,” the band says, preparing for the release of their forthcoming album. “We’re casting our net wider, and going all in. We’re never content to sit still or play it safe.”
And while the tracks may hit in your steady rotation and playlists, Autopilot ups the ante with their electrifying, well-crafted live show. If you see them for the first time at a festival, you’re guaranteed to go home in a sonic soundscape that will leave you lying in a musical coma, content with the next generation of indie alt-rock.
Though their pandemic-induced hiatus as a touring band may have felt like years, it’s only been days since they rocked your world with their music. In fact, Autopilot has The Cure while you’re feeling “In Between Days” of catching them live.
Could Gowan see a Stranger Things Moment For “(You’re A) Strange Animal” from Jordan Peele’s ‘Nope’?
No spoilers here. But Jordan Peele has always used music as dramatic irony, using Gowan’s ’80s hit “(You’re a) Strange Animal,” a song where the singer walks the tightrope between anthropology, infatuation, and obsession: “Well they say I should approach you with caution / But not to let you be aware of my fear. … / You’re a strange animal, I’ve got to follow…” fits perfectly in the film.
Jordan Peele, with over 4 million followers across Twitter & Instagram, also shared an ‘easter egg’ sequence for Gordy’s Home on social media, using the second single from Gowan’s Multi-Platinum selling album, Strange Animal; a song that was a top-twenty staple in Canada, Top 10 on MuchMusic, the nation’s music station, and has reached classic status. “(You’re A) Strange Animal” is undoubtedly bringing back the song into people’s memories and streams, with over 7 million views of Peele’s video on Twiter, Instagram and TikTok.
Like Kate Bush and Metallica, both artists who have seen massive rise in their streams thanks to TV series placements, Gowan is now reaching much wider and younger fans – although he’s no stranger to classic rock music fans as he’s currently performing to sell out crowds in amphitheatres all over North America as a member of Styx. This high-energy song is just another powerful and innovative way to bring much-loved classics to new fans everywhere.
Check out Jordan Peele’s tweet below:
— Jordan Peele (@JordanPeele) July 24, 2022
Gowan’s “(You’re A) Strange Animal” can be found on Spotify below:
Humanity… you’re a strange animal.
Toronto’s Legendary GROSSMAN’S TAVERN Announces Return of Annual Amy Louie / Grossman’s Music Scholarship & Fundraising Event
Following a two-year hiatus on account of the pandemic, Toronto’s legendary Grossman’s Tavern has announced its annual Amy Louie / Grossman’s Music Scholarship and fundraiser event will return for 2022. Details are here.
Created in memory of the late Amy Louie — a member of the family that has owned Grossman’s Tavern since 1975 — the ALGMS is an artist development bursary that provides two musicians or bands from the Greater Toronto Area $2,000 and $1,000, respectively, to help with career development.
The 2022 Amy Louie / Grossman’s Music Scholarship fundraising event will take place Tuesday, September 27th at Grossman’s Tavern, 379 Spadina Ave, Toronto.
ALGMS applications are officially open and can be received until September 16th, 2022 at 11:59pm EST. Successful candidates will be chosen by a panel of judges that include members of the Louie family, music industry professionals, and individuals with long-standing connections to Grossman’s Tavern.
Previous recipients of the Scholarship include The Big Butter and Egg Men, Mike Nagoda, The Swingin’ Blackjacks, Dan McKinnon, Bad Luck Woman & Her Misfortunes, Chloe Watkinson & Park Eddy, Jerome Godboo, and The Responsables.
As one of the longest-running live music venues and a stalwart within Toronto’s vibrant and dynamic music scene, Grossman’s has long been considered an incubator for an impressive roster of local artists who got their start inside the Tavern, including the late Jeff Healey, the Downchild Blues Band, Rough Trade, and more.