‘Pot Culture’ Is Now Pop Culture
APRIL 18, 2008
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (TNA) – In 1967, an era creaking under the burden of race riots, assassinations, an imminent war and the first inklings of hippie culture, you’d have to be high to sing the indelible classic ballad “What A Wonderful World” and mean it, right?
It may surprise you to know that Louis Armstrong, who recorded the first and seminal version of the pop standard that year, was, indeed, a stoner.
'Pot Culture' authors Steve Bloom and Shirley Halperin
Armstrong – aka Satchmo -- was, in fact, the first prominent American to ever be arrested for marijuana possession, back in the 1930s, before “going green” was even illegal. (Pot became the subject of rigid prohibition in the U.S. in 1937.)
Such is the “kind stuff” in “Pot Culture: The A-Z Guide to Stoner Language & Life” (Harry N. Abrams), written by Steve Bloom, a former editor at “High Times,” and Shirley Halperin, an entertainment journalist currently writing for “Entertainment Weekly” and “Us Weekly.”
“Pot Culture” bills itself as the first comprehensive guide for the devoted smoker and occasional toker, offering everything you ever wanted to know about marijuana but were too stoned to ask.
The book is a heady collage of wit, wisdom, history and hilarity, featuring more than 500 people, places, words and slang phrases in a colorful, encyclopedic fashion. More than that, though, the book features rich pot history, recipes, hot-to guides and exclusive interviews with noted potheads like Melissa Etheridge, Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas, Jonah Hill of ”Superbad” and Matthew McConaughey, among others.
One of Bloom's favorite sections of the book is the pop culture lists, which look at the best hip-hop songs about weed and the best movies to watch while stoned, for example.
“Billboard Magazine,” the renowned music industry trade publication, recently described the book as “… the Stoner Bible. For novices, it’s Pot for Dummies.”
The book’s creation was also an act of deep devotion, according to 53-year-old Bloom.
“I’m a stoner, man,” Bloom laughs. “You know the guy in the family who ducks out during a wedding to grab a smoke, or prefers to listen to music when he’s buzzing? I’m that guy. I’ve always identified myself that way.”
Bloom says that his transformation from “prototypical casual stoner” – the guy who got stoned with friends and laughed a lot – to “professional stoner” became complete when he began working at pot periodical “High Times” some 20 years ago.
“I was always a smoker, but I became something of an expert when I started working at the magazine,” Bloom says. “It became a daily thing – part of brainstorming. We’d get high and come up with ideas and go off and do our work, stoned.”
Bloom, perhaps because of his years in the trenches and at the vanguard of pot legislation, medicinal uses of marijuana and other weed-related controversy, believes that being a stoner today, in a culture that is simultaneously permissive and ultra-conservative, carries with it the responsibility of being an activist of sorts. (For the record, he ranks the legalization of pot as “in the top 10, definitely” of important issues in America.)
“There’s so much negative stuff we’ve been told for years about marijuana, and I’d like to do my part to undo all of that. I think we really have to,” he says. “Marijuana is not ‘bad, bad, bad,’ like we’ve been told. For most of us, marijuana is something that accentuates our lives.
Bloom says Snoop Dogg is a good marijuana role model who could 'probably teach every stoner a thing or two.'
“So if you’re going to smoke today, it can be a political thing,” he says. “A lot of us feel oppressed – jailed, drug-tested, with lots of problems being handed to us in our lives because we like pot. It’s probably a good idea to get educated, learn about some of the pro-pot organizations out there and figure out how to support some political change.”
That said, Bloom and Halperin’s book is far from a crusty manifesto. Indeed, in what other tome will you learn how to conceal the smell of weed, how to make a bong from an apple or a soda can, how to keep your bud fresh, and also find a list of smart – i.e. low-calorie – munchies, the stoniest episodes of “The Simpsons,” great stoner innovations and the Seven Stoner Wonders of the World?
“This book is not a bummer,” says Bloom. “It’s a lot of fucking fun.”
Bloom admits, “I did a lot of the writing of this book high. I like to write high. I like to edit high.”
The book originated from an idea hatched by Halperin, who had worked under Bloom at “High Times” in her early years as a journalist. Bloom and Halperin spent six months writing a solid book proposal, lined up a publishing deal with Harry N. Abrams, Inc. – “which allowed us to do kind of an art book thing, with lots of pictures and stuff,” Bloom says – and then spent another six months writing the book.
Bloom drew from his expertise to tackle sections on history, activism and cultivation, while Halperin used her cache as an entertainment journalist to lasso celebrity interviews. Together, they compiled the lists of stoner movies, TV and music.
“What works in this book is that we have this common passion, obviously, but different strengths,” Bloom says. “Plus, there’s the male-female thing, I’m a lot older than she is, she’s from L.A. and I’m from New York. There are a lot of complementary things at work here.”
Bloom is particularly proud of Halperin’s exclusive interview with Melissa Etheridge who, for the first time at this length, discusses her use of marijuana during treatment for breast cancer.
“That’s a real scoop,” says Bloom.
'Jackass' star Steve-O uses a trusty can to get his buzz.
Bloom says the success of “Pot Culture” is in its attention to detail and its exhaustive research.
“I would wake up, literally, in the middle of the night with more things, more ideas, more words, more lists that had to be included in the book. Up to the last minute, we were adding stuff,” he says. “If you want to know about pot and pot culture, this is the book, no doubt about it.”
While Bloom awaits the April 20 launch of “Pot Culture” – “that being a big day for stoners around the world,” he says – he continues to work at his Web site, which chronicles the exploits and adventures of famous friends in weed.
One of Bloom’s favorite pot-related memories was when rap maven and notorious pothead Snoop Dogg arrived at “High Times” for a photo shoot, expecting a bag of top-drawer weed.
“We were all really nervous, because, you know, Snoop Dogg’s from California, and he can get whatever weed he wants. The really good stuff,” Bloom says. “But he put his nose in the bag and he was impressed. We really won him over.
“A couple hours later, and no one could find Snoop. Like, ‘Where the fuck did Snoop go?’” Bloom recalls. “He was just completely passed out on a couch. Completely out. It was hilarious.”
The next day, Bloom says, Snoop arrived at the “High Times” office “raring to go, full of energy,” and asking for more.
“He’d already smoked everything we’d given him,” Bloom says. “That man is indestructible. He could probably teach every stoner a thing or two.”
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