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Hey, have you hugged your country boots today?

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Do you smoke marijuana?

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This what's going on to our meditators?

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Doctor Herring!

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Welcome back, welcome back, and sorry for the delay in uploading a new episode.

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April's been a very hectic month until now.

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I've been doing everything here on Reefer the Reefer, on my own time and my own dime.

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And then I met Dan from Honored Photography.

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Dan's been helping me put some YouTube content together this month with Where's the Terp?

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stream reviews with Little Farmer.

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So head over to YouTube and follow me at Little Farmer and check out some of the content.

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And for that, this episode is brought to you by Honored Photography.

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Thanks Dan.

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Go check out his webpage at honoredphotography.com and check out what he has to offer.

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Great guy, great photography, great videos.

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Thanks Dan.

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And without further ado, let's get into the next episode with Derek McDonald.

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He is a singer songwriter who wrote Doctor Herb, which is the intro song to Reefer the Reefer.

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If you're interested in hearing the full length of the song, wait till the end of this episode and I will have a version of it for you to listen to.

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Hey, thanks, Derek.

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Welcome to Reefer the Reefer, the podcast.

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I'm here with Derek McDonald.

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Thanks for coming in, Derek.

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Yes, sir.

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Derek is a singer songwriter from the band Rasta Raffighi that I remember, but also he has a couple other bands and I think he does some solo singing possibly on occasions.

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Mostly with other artists.

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Mostly with other artists.

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Not much solo stuff, just duos and group stuff.

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Duos and group.

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So I was introduced to Derek and Rasta Raffighi back in 1993 in Morgantown, West Virginia at a venue called Nyabengi back in the day, which is now called 123 Pleasant Street.

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Right, right.

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Yeah, and they were playing, and I was 17 and my sister was in college and she knew the doorman, so she snuck me in there and I was back in the corner digging it.

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I didn't drink or anything.

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I think I smoked one or two bowls.

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I had a great time.

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First introduction to live music.

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It was great.

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Thank you for that.

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Yes, you're welcome.

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And he sang a song called Dr. Herb, and it is actually the intro to the podcast now.

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I reached out to Derek and asked him if I could use it, because it influenced my life so much and I thought it had so much meaning and fit the podcast perfectly.

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And he was gracious enough to say yes.

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And I invited him to the podcast here to talk about the song actually and what inspired it and how he got into cannabis and what he's up to now and what's up with Rasta Raffighi, which is actually playing this summer in West Virginia at Cheat Lake.

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Yeah, June 17.

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Yeah, I can't wait to hear some of that music.

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If I can't get there, I'd like to at least grab some audio from some of the live stuff.

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Oh yeah, we got to make sure that there's some video and audio.

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We got to see to that.

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So when did you actually write the song Dr. Herb, Derek?

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Well, I wrote that song.

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It was back in the day when I was in my early 20s.

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And Ross Raffighi had gotten to the point where we were like, we were touring, well not say touring, but we were gigging on a regular. Like every midweek through Sunday, we were hitting spots out of town.

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We were having a pretty regular routine there and I was living above the Nia Binghy with Ross Johnny, who was the owner of the Nia Binghy.

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And I said, you have to say, you know, in my early 20s, I had a lot of free time on my hands.

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So whenever I wasn't on the road, I was pretty much just chilling, waiting until the next time I was on the road, going to rehearsal.

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You know, and I found that oftentimes when I got off the road, of course I was tired. I found myself sleeping in it and sometimes I wouldn't wake up until someone knocked on my door.

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And they were like, yo D, what you doing? Let's burn some herb, you know.

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I'm like, all right, cool.

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They would come by, we'd burn some herb and we would always get to this point and burn herb where we were having deep conversation.

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Every conversation was meaningful. It was never just trivial conversation. That's just how it was.

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So in my mind, I just really thought to myself, I feel like I'm a psychiatrist sometimes.

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I feel like I'm a doctor up here, people coming into the office and we burn the herb and we start talking and we start getting deep into each other's personal space and conversation.

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So that's when the idea came to me, like, it's like a doctor.

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So Dr. Herb to me became the herb is the doctor that talks to you and you are a doctor when you burn the herb and you talk to other people. So it has so many meanings to me.

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It's like there was some literature going around, I think it was called the Emperor Wears No Clothing, which was like the first literature that I had read talking about the positive use of marijuana and herb.

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So with all that going on in my life, I kind of just really came up with this concept of Dr. Herb.

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And I can remember me sitting around going diggity diggity diggity doctor, just kind of like just fully in my head thinking herb is like medicine because you get deep with it.

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And that's how I came up with the idea.

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Yeah, and at the end it's like good for asthma, good for this, rather good for this.

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For the food, food, fiber.

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And fun.

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And fun.

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So when were you actually introduced to cannabis for the first time?

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Well, the first time I really was introduced to it is when I realized my parents were smoking it.

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And me and my brother, we'd be laying around at night, my older brother and I could smell it.

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And I would say to him, what is that?

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And he would be like, that's reefer.

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And granted, we were young.

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I mean, I'm saying we were probably like seven and nine years old.

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My brother's about a year and a half older than me.

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I'm like, what is that?

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He said, that's reefer.

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And in my young mind, all I could think was Christmas wreath.

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I'm like, reefer?

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Christmas wreath.

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I'm like, and I'm thinking my parents are sitting around smoking the Christmas wreath.

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And I'm thinking, why would they be doing that?

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It's the imagination of the kids.

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My parents are smoking the Christmas wreath.

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I said, they're smoking the wreath.

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Why are they smoking the Christmas wreath?

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And he was like, no, it's weed marijuana.

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And that's when the first time I heard about it, and I started noticing the smell.

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And of course, you started learning about it in school, and they didn't have nice things to say about it in school.

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The D.A.R.E. program.

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And so that bothered me to the point where I would start saying things to my mom and dad at night like, mom, dad, I can't sleep.

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I'm feeling real dizzy.

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I'd say stuff like that, and my mom would be back in there choking.

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Just go back to sleep.

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You'll be all right.

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You'll be all right.

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You're good.

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You're good.

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Right?

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But then I had an older cousin who ended up moving in with us.

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And he was a street slick individual.

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He had herb, and he would always dare me.

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I dare you to try this.

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And he would say, I'll give you some money.

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I grew up with that hustle mentality.

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You're going to give me some money?

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Sure, I'll try it.

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So that was the first time.

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And I was probably in seventh grade.

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It was the first time.

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I heard about it in the seventh grade, but I didn't really smoke until about tenth grade when I was introduced to some friends walking through the path, and they handed me a joint.

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By the time I got to high school, I became a user because I had buddies who older brothers could get access to it.

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And we'd get the old corn-carb pipe from the convenience store or take an apple.

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We'd get a carrot too.

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Carrot, aluminum foil.

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So they'd paper roll it with aluminum foil.

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It was my favorite.

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You cut a little hole, put the aluminum foil in there, and you have your own little steamer.

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You know, it never tastes as good as the first time.

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The first time you smoke it.

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What was the best herb you ever smoked?

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It was probably when you were younger.

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Everybody has a nostalgic memory of something back in the past.

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The best herb I ever smoked, it's memorable, but it was also a little traumatizing.

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It was on my birthday in West Virginia.

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My brother and my best friend, they drove up to Morgantown to surprise me on my birthday, and they had what they called skunk bud.

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Remember that strand?

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It smelled like a skunk.

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They were like, hey, man, we brought this to help you celebrate your birthday.

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And I was already excited and surprised because I didn't think they were coming.

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And then we started burning that skunk bud, and we put on some Bob Marley and One Love.

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We put on One Love.

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And that bass line, that bass line and One Love, it just sunk into my chest.

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I was just, you know, for the first time really feeling that bass line.

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And that got me to a point where I started to hyperventilate a little bit.

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And I was like, wow, I'm hyperventilating.

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I'm feeling a little edgy, you know, like.

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So I went and took a shower to calm my nerves.

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And then it seemed like after I took a shower, it just felt like everything, my senses seemed like they were like heightened, like music playing.

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It was just boom, boom, boom.

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And I got to the point where I just really started breathing really heavy and my brother was like, what's wrong with you?

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I'm like, I'm hyperventilating. I can't breathe. I can't breathe.

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He's like, sit down. He got a bag and had me breathe and relax.

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But that was the first time that ever really intensely happened to me like that, with marijuana.

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And we were smoking bongs. So what I did was for a while, I didn't quit smoking weed.

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I just quit smoking bongs for a while.

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Yeah, I had an incident in college where we were sitting around.

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We were taking blunts and putting them in the end of the bong and smoking blunts out of the bong.

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Take a bong and we did like three blunts like that between three or four of us.

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I got so high, I got nauseous and threw up.

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And then it felt like I was tripping on mushrooms after that.

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You know, my whole body was just like, I felt like I was tripping.

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But you know, over time, as you grow, you realize you learn how to use, you know,

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because it was illegal for so long, it kind of forced you to abuse it

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because you always had to do it in hiding. You had to get it in when you could.

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So it kind of, it being illegal kind of encouraged you to misuse it.

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But now that it's legal, you can educate yourself and you can use it the way an herb,

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a natural herb, a God given herb is supposed to be used.

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You don't have to puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff.

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You know, you can use it in moderation.

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You can know the strand and what it can do for you or maybe not do for you.

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So did you grow up in West Virginia?

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No, I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, but I ended up going to WVU for school,

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you know, out of high school. That's where I went.

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So you were downtown in Baltimore. You grew up in the city?

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I grew up, well, I was born and raised in the city up until a certain age,

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until I was nine and then my parents had enough wherewithal thank you, Mom and Dad.

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They moved us out into Baltimore County.

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We thought we moved far away from the city, but it was only basically 10, 15 minutes down the road.

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But the neighborhoods and communities were completely different.

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The education system was completely different.

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So through that, I got a good education in Baltimore County to the point where I had enough to go to college.

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I kind of just took my finger and picked West Virginia.

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And all my friends were like, why? I said, I don't know.

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It's a special place.

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I said, I don't know. Have you ever been to West Virginia? I said, no.

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They said, do you know anything about West Virginia? I said, no.

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They said, you know about the ratio of blacks to whites in West Virginia?

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And you know that there's potential racism and situations like that in West Virginia?

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And I said, I'm going to find out.

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And I just went on an impulse.

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I went there just because I'm from West Virginia and family went there and it was the closest one to the house.

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And I had an herb connection there because that's one of the main reasons I went there, because I had an herb connection.

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And it lasted a few years and then it ran out because, you know,

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Morgantown is a big place and a lot of people getting busted here and there.

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I was there during a lot of those periods.

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And did you ever have any bad experiences in Morgantown while you were there?

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I almost got arrested a few times. I was just lucky that something else happened.

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You know, I saw a lot of crazy stuff happen in Morgantown.

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Me personally, I never had anything too drastic happen to me.

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There was a time, you know, where there might have been some small brushes for the police.

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Like one time they come knocking on the door above the Niavingi saying, they need someone needs to see you down at the station.

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And I'm like, OK. So or no, somebody came to the door and said, police officers came at the door looking for you.

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I said, really? I said, well, let me go walk up there and see why they're looking for me.

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So I walked up there because I don't like the idea of somebody looking for me.

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I'm like, you looking for me? And they said, no, that must have been some mistake.

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So whatever. But there was one time where we had a situation where a friend was in need.

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And we had called 911 because we were concerned about a friend because they weren't feeling well.

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We felt like they needed to go to the hospital, but they didn't want to go.

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We didn't know that then. But now we know that if you ever call 911 or you call like emergency and your friends are calling for you, you know, they need you and you decline it.

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They'll send someone there anyway. And they sent the police because they thought the person was in a dangerous situation potentially.

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And the police, they could smell the herb and they gave us a hard time about it.

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They're like, we smell herb. We smell marijuana. We need everybody to go back inside.

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Somebody's been smoking. I mean, decline, decline, decline. I don't know. I don't know why you smell that.

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We don't have any air. And they were like, well, what we're going to do is we're going to take all your names and phone numbers down.

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We're like, OK. They started with me. Tony Johnson.

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I'm like, are you serious? I'm really going to give you my real name and number. But, you know, little silly things like that.

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But nothing ever serious. I've been. Rosser and Figi bus did get pulled over one time though, down in Lewisburg.

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That was a little embarrassing. That's a little different part of the state. So West Virginia is a state that Eastern panhandle with the Morgan Tons could be a little bit different than the southern part of the state.

215
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They pulled us over once we were leaving town. We just did a show that night. They pulled us over, made us get out the bus and they were threatening to search the bus and everything.

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We were like. They're like, if you don't let us in, we're going to call. Get a search going. We're like, go ahead. And then they finally just let us go.

217
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It's not a bad place in Morgan Tons. Big party school. Crime rates pretty low compared to most other universities.

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I had a great time there. It took me six years to graduate. Biggest problems I had there were I just saw a lot of people get busted for selling weed.

219
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A lot of my friends who live there now, they say that it's changed a lot though that downtown there's a lot of homeless situation of a lot of people who may be drug addicts and things.

220
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So it doesn't have the same feeling. It's kind of scary. But that's happening all over the U.S. from what I hear.

221
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Yeah. West Virginia, you know, is one of the worst days for the opiate epidemic. Yes. And people dying. And I've had friends die from it.

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Friends of friends. And if not your typical drug addict either is going to be the young girl that went and got her molars taken out and got some pain pills and got addicted to those and then ended up getting heroin somewhere because she couldn't get her pain pills anymore.

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And low tolerance, you know, indeed, real quick. It's pretty sad. It seems to go back and forth from opiates to heroin to back to pills, depending on what's cheaper on the streets.

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And I think cannabis can really help. Sure. Like wean a lot of these people off. I know there's some medical dispensaries in West Virginia now, but they're really behind on what's happening.

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And I recommend everybody back there try to just get involved and start talking, getting in contact with your senators and just telling, hey, we want to legalize it.

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We're just tired of waiting. People are going to the other state next door to Virginia to get an ID to get their weed or they're going to Maryland or to D.C.

227
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because anybody can go to D.C. and just sign a paper saying I'm a medical user and they can get access to medical dispensary weed. And I've heard of people even driving up to Massachusetts still from from West Virginia to get good weed.

228
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So the state's losing out. It's been five or six years since they legalized and still the only West Virginia based operator hasn't opened his first door yet.

229
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It's all out of state entities like truly even a cheerleaf, I think, and a couple other MSOs, which means multi-state operators.

230
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If you guys haven't heard that term yet, MSO is multi-state operators and none of the local people in West Virginia are getting a chance.

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So they're trying to monopolize it. That's what's happening.

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And it's it's cost so much to get the doors open for the only local operator. And it's a curative growth.

233
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There's both open one in Romney, West Virginia, where I'm from, Morgantown and Fairmont.

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But just financials, all the headaches of trying to get the permits, trying to have the people next door complain, having to get the walls up, the fencing.

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COVID, no money left to actually remodel the building and get it set up.

236
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So you had to get more investors to come in. And they're guaranteed to lose money for the first five years.

237
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There's no way they're going to make a profit the way the system set up.

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And I have people in West Virginia going to call me up because my business where I sell seeds and I help people consult to grow their own cannabis,

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calling me because they think I'm the dispenser in Romney, because somehow when they search Google, that's what comes up.

240
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The market's there. We just got to figure out how to get it opened up.

241
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And so now you're in Denver. I forgot to mention to the people we're in Denver. Welcome to Denver.

242
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Derek, he's here to see the Reggae Show at Red Rocks coming up with the Marley Brothers.

243
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You've been here before to see Reggae on the Rocks. Hopefully we can get you out here and do a little show.

244
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Yes, I like the compound you have going on right here.

245
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We're down at the Connoisseur Collective right now and he's checking out the area and smoking some of the good herbs, some of the best herb that Colorado has.

246
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What do you think of some of the stuff that you've been smelling compared to what you've been getting back in Baltimore?

247
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You know, just the diversity of aromas that I've been smelling is just I've smelled aromas that I've never really smelled in marijuana before.

248
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Yeah, the one he gave you has that orangey, like, tropical Hawaiian punch smell with a little chocolatey.

249
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That's one of my favorite. And that chocolatey, man, it's so diverse with the terpene profiles.

250
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We've been talking about the terpene profiles and some of the differences.

251
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You don't even have to burn it to get some benefits from it. Just the aroma therapy is strong.

252
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I don't know if you've ever said this when you were younger, like, man, if I could put that smell into a bottle and carry it around, you know.

253
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I call it contact.

254
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And now they actually can separate the terpene to put them into bottles and they're really condensed up.

255
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Like we were talking, put them in the diffusers, let them go through the air.

256
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It's such a nice smell. I don't know why some people don't like it.

257
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I've heard a lot of people, like some of my ex-girlfriends, I don't like it. I don't like it.

258
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And then all of a sudden there'll be that one. That one, they'll be like, hmm, that one does smell pretty good and get really interested.

259
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A lot of them may not like the smell of it when it's burning, but when it's just the aroma, they might like it.

260
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And then some people are opposite. They prefer.

261
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Like me, I noticed like if I've ever been to like a concert and I haven't had, I didn't have anything to smoke,

262
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everything I smelled in the air smelled like the most amazing herb you've ever smelled in your life.

263
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And I thought to myself, what smells better than my herb, somebody else's herb?

264
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The herb smells better from the other pipe. You know what I mean?

265
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Have you had any correlation with smoking herb in creating this creativeness and writing music?

266
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Absolutely.

267
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And how has it influenced your singing and songwriting?

268
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You know, with me, herb just opens me up and connects me to co-create with the most high inside of me.

269
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And, you know, I used to think, oh, man, I came up with a great idea.

270
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I can't do it, but it's not just me. It's a co-creation, you know.

271
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And the herb has just always been there to put me in that place, you know, like to come up with creative things.

272
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And over time, I've been able to maintain them.

273
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Like in the past, I'd come up with them and then an hour later, it'd be gone.

274
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But in time, you learn to capture them. It's easier now with, you know, technology.

275
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I sing it to my phone often, you know, not just words, but melodies and bass lines and rhythm, you know.

276
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But I always know it's that voice within communicating with me.

277
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Like, I like being alone now because my alone time is creative time.

278
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I think it just makes me more one with the music at itself.

279
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I can get into it and kind of mine out a body experience with the music and become one more with it.

280
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And just I have those moments too, creativeness.

281
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And if you don't write it down really quick, gone.

282
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That's one thing herb actually helps me to focus and control those thoughts

283
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and remember the things I want to remember more than and forget the things I don't want to remember easier.

284
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Instead of letting the things I want to forget cloud my mind and help me forget the things I want to remember.

285
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Yeah, I like to use herb when I'm in a creative mood, not when I'm wanting to relax.

286
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You know, yeah, at the end of the day, it's a nice thing.

287
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But after all the creativity has been done, you know.

288
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All that mental work is actually relaxing and helps you.

289
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You know, I needed to go to sleep or relax in the evening with all that.

290
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Same with me, I'm doing physical labor.

291
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At the end of the day, I'm already relaxed and I can go to bed because I've already smoked.

292
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I've already worked hard and my body's ready to go to bed or mentally exhausted myself.

293
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But I have found that some are more creative than others.

294
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There are some with certain terpene profiles that stimulate my mind more than others.

295
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See, that's the beauty of it now becoming more accepted that now people can use the herb exactly how they need to use it.

296
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Before you just had to get with the man the doc down the street had, which is another man in the doctor.

297
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He's not a drug dealer. We call him Dr. Herb.

298
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You know, that became the catchphrase around town.

299
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You seen a doctor? Do you have any doctor?

300
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You know, that was a way of communicating without saying, hey, you got any weed?

301
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Who's a drug dealer? You know, you seen a doc?

302
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:04,000
Yeah, he wasn't a drug dealer.

303
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The problem is there's a lot of times you had to go to a real drug dealer to get your weed.

304
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That's one thing I didn't like either.

305
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But you had to get whatever he had, whatever he was able to get.

306
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Now you can get whatever you want, whatever you need, you know.

307
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A lot safer, too.

308
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Apothecary.

309
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Apothecary, that's a common term out here.

310
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Apothecary for arms is a good one.

311
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Using natural remedies, natural herbs.

312
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So you're currently in Baltimore at the moment, but I know you're in Florida and Tampa a lot.

313
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I see you're doing a little trio of music.

314
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What's the name of your trio that you got going?

315
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We got a trio.

316
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It's bigger than a trio.

317
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We call ourselves One Love Rising.

318
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We're out of Tampa, Florida.

319
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Right now, you know, the main crew is me and Mr. Juan Jimontero and Phil Compass on the bass.

320
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But we have other people that we build with.

321
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But yeah, I'm planning on going down there in May.

322
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We're going to do some shows in May in Tampa.

323
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And what's happening in June?

324
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I kind of mentioned it earlier.

325
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You have a plan, getting a Ross DeRofiki band back together.

326
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Yes, right.

327
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We're getting together with Ross DeRofiki.

328
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June 16th in Charleston at Lava DeLevi.

329
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And June 17th, we're going to be opening up the Raging on the River series that they have every summer.

330
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So this will be the first installment of the summer of 2023.

331
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And it's at the Cheat River Festival grounds they have there.

332
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Adam Payne runs that.

333
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Yeah, Music to Your Productions, Morgantown, West Virginia.

334
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Yeah, he runs a lot of shows out there.

335
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Shout outs to Adam.

336
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He's a friend of mine from back in college.

337
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Adam Payne been holding it down for years.

338
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We appreciate him for that.

339
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Yeah, anything with live music going on in Morgantown, he most definitely knows about it.

340
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And yeah, he's told me about a couple shows and I made my way out to Morgantown just to check them out.

341
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Definitely excited for that.

342
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There's going to be many artists on that June 17th camping out there along the Cheat River.

343
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And the other question I wanted to ask you kind of slipped my mind.

344
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Also, other types of besides mental relaxation and creativeness, are there any other ways that cannabis has helped you better your life?

345
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You know, I've always noticed that like certain aches and pains that you may have in your body.

346
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I've noticed that after I've used some herb, I can focus on those pains and those aches and those places in my body and almost isolate them.

347
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To know where I might need to apply pressure for stretching, mainly with stretching, you know, and just where to release that tension in my hips and my legs.

348
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And I find that cannabis helps with that.

349
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I think it helps me become more self-aware of my body.

350
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Like you're saying, it just helps me to slow down and I know more about the effects of what I'm putting in my body and how they affect me.

351
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I'm more conscious of how my body is reacting all the time.

352
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And you know, I noticed that cannabis is not necessarily for everybody.

353
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And it's also not necessarily used the same by everybody.

354
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Some people can smoke it and get use from it and some people don't.

355
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:56,000
Some people can eat it and get use from it and they don't.

356
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Some people can get the tinctures and get what they need, you know what I mean?

357
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Or rub the cream.

358
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:07,000
And that was another question I wanted to ask you about the CBD in animals.

359
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How is that used?

360
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Because I have a really active puppy who's almost adult.

361
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But I noticed that her personality tends to be one where she just will naturally get hyper.

362
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And she needs help relaxing.

363
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And I find myself saying, just relax. It's okay. We're going outside. It's okay.

364
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:33,000
We're just chilling.

365
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:37,000
I was wondering, is there things like CBD?

366
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:42,000
They do make CBD shoes and treats.

367
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:46,000
So you can buy treats for the dog that have CBD already infused in them.

368
00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:50,000
And the way CBD works and the way it's explained,

369
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every person and every animal and plant has an endocannabinoid system or ECS, endocannabinoid system.

370
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So if you ever see ECS or something related to that, it's talking about the endocannabinoid system,

371
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which is basically like your nervous system, your circulatory system, your respiratory system.

372
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But it controls your brain and your nervous system and touches on all of your other systems too.

373
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So it touches all of your organs basically and your muscles and your nerves.

374
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And endocannabinoid system starts in the brain.

375
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The CBD helps to regulate that focal point in the brain that controls everything else.

376
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So CBD doesn't do a hundred things. It doesn't kill the pain. It doesn't help you sleep.

377
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It just helps control that, which helps control your hormones, which helps control your nervous system, which calms you down.

378
00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:57,000
That's why you see people with epilepsy.

379
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The brain is going too fast. It's sending too many signals and the receptors can't receive all the signals at the same time.

380
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:11,000
So it slows down the signals and then the receptor can take it. So they're instantly, their nerves calm down.

381
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:19,000
And it's something about that synapsis of the brain because it's all electrical signals in your brain.

382
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:26,000
And the receiver is telling the sender, we can't take them that fast. Slow down.

383
00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:33,000
It'll slow down. Or if your sender is going really slow and your receiver is like, we need more.

384
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:39,000
It can tell it, hey, we need you to speed up. That's why it has the opposite effect to some people.

385
00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:48,000
And it's a complicated system in the brain where other mechanisms of medication from pseudoclically work the other way.

386
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:55,000
They try to control the sender and the receiver has no say. So it causes different issues.

387
00:33:55,000 --> 00:34:01,000
And there's a podcast I listen to called Smoke and Science.

388
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:07,000
These girls are PhDs and my B.Ph.D. is a neuroscientist on the brain.

389
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:16,000
And she talks really in depth about how CBD affects the brain and then how that will affect your nervous system and the rest of your organs and everything.

390
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:23,000
And it's really good for the nerves. So with the dogs, they don't recommend THC.

391
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:28,000
Right. I've heard that. But they might in some cases.

392
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:36,000
I don't know. There's some doctors are just afraid to say give us THC in case something happens. They don't want to be responsible.

393
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:45,000
So one thing I think about with the dogs, I often ask myself, what would a dog do if it was in the wild?

394
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:53,000
So I try to think about that, too. How would a dog get CBD in the wild?

395
00:34:53,000 --> 00:35:03,000
They might be able to eat the plant. I don't know. Most dogs would be in packs and are living in a free world.

396
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:13,000
I think about that my dog all the time. If you were living in a free world, how would your life be in a dog free world?

397
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:21,000
So the only way I recommend I've heard is the tentures or the treats already prepackaged.

398
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:32,000
There's some really good ones out there, too, that are other ingredients that are good for their stomach with the probiotics and help them to digest their food and help stop the scratching, too.

399
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:45,000
I've heard it help calm dogs down. But also if your dog's old and starting to have it, it actually gives them more energy and they become more youthful.

400
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:57,000
And it could all be dependent on the dog, just like humans. It reacts differently for person to person. So it can be the same for dogs, I would imagine.

401
00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:07,000
But I have heard of one or two doctors talk about CBD with just a little THC to activate the CBD, just like it is in humans.

402
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:18,000
If you eat CBD and you have just a little bit of THC with it, that CBD will function more readily.

403
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:27,000
I can see that being the case for myself, for sure. A little THC in there with the CBD would help me.

404
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:36,000
Because from my past experience with just using CBD, my mind doesn't really feel like I'm feeling it.

405
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:44,000
One of the main things with the CBD, and I'll give you some tentures that I made that has a CBD, THC, and CBG in it.

406
00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:53,000
So you can try some of that. It's called the trifecta of those cannabinoids. And it's the one I feel that works the best for me.

407
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:59,000
The main thing about it, it's full plant extract. So I'm getting all parts of the plant. I'm extracting those smells and the terpenes too.

408
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:08,000
So when you ingest it, that's going to injure your body also and gives you more unique effects than if you buy a distillate CBD on the shelves.

409
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:18,000
A lot of times you go back east or something, you're going to get a distillate. It'll say 1000 mg CBD, alcohol extracted, and it has none of the terpenes.

410
00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:26,000
It has no other part of the plant in it. And there's other parts of the plant that we probably just don't even know exist yet.

411
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:36,000
We haven't discovered because of the research or lack of research. But the main ones are cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids that we know of.

412
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:47,000
And those mixtures in with the THC and CBD all together create synergistic effects. And you strip away one of them, the other ones aren't going to work as well.

413
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:59,000
So the all full plant extract is some of the best medicine. And those CBD products probably don't taste the best, but they work best.

414
00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:08,000
If it tastes good, it probably doesn't. It's either got sugar in it. I'm a fan of bitter being sweet to the body.

415
00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:19,000
You have a strict diet also. Does the cannabis play any role into that? For me, I know my diet got much better once I started becoming more self-aware.

416
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:29,000
And it just wanted me, growing cannabis made me want to grow more plants and then I wanted to eat the plants I grew and want to take care of my body more.

417
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:41,000
You know, when I'm going through some of my fasts, I find that the cannabis helps me to maintain the steadfastness of the fast.

418
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:51,000
You know, if I didn't have the cannabis, I might lose the steadfastness and break my fast earlier than I intended to.

419
00:38:51,000 --> 00:39:01,000
But knowing me, I could do the fast without the herb too, because I challenge myself with things like that.

420
00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:15,000
I'll fast from herb, you know, to show myself that I can, because I don't like to feel like something can control me, you know, in anything, a person, a thing, anything.

421
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:24,000
I want to feel like I'm in control of me. So every now and again, I'll even fast from the herb just to remind myself.

422
00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:32,000
I think the cannabis too can help you keep focusing on the path, whatever path you're on and help you keep dialed in to what you want to do.

423
00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:40,000
Yeah, it's like, in other words, it's like if I can't have a drink or if I can't have these cookies, at least I can have my herb.

424
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:45,000
You know, sometimes that's how I feel.

425
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:47,000
I think it helps a lot of people that way.

426
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:54,000
You know, it gets a bad rep. I'm going to smoke it and I'm going to eat a pack of potato chips. I can't, because I got to watch my weight. I can't smoke herbs.

427
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:55,000
There's no calories in the herb.

428
00:39:55,000 --> 00:40:01,000
I'm like, what? You got to watch your weight so you can't smoke herbs. Smoking herbs is not going to make you fat.

429
00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:07,000
It's going to probably actually do the opposite. It's going to probably slow your metabolism down and help you lose weight.

430
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:18,000
It's a grounding thing to me, it grounds you. And I like being grounded because I'm a tree, so trees like the ground.

431
00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:24,000
Well said.

432
00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:29,000
So what other plans have you got here in Colorado while you're here?

433
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:36,000
Anything special besides the shows? Have you got a chance to make it up into the mountains and visit the mountains? Denver is beautiful, but the mountains are beautiful.

434
00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:44,000
I was going to extend my stay until the end of the weekend, but I have to get back on Friday.

435
00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:52,000
So basically, my focus is just to check these shows and just vibe with the people that I come across.

436
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:58,000
And just have a little break from the hustle grind I've been doing in Baltimore.

437
00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:03,000
You've already met the people here at the Connoisseur Collective, so you know you're welcome here.

438
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:07,000
I've already talked about playing some music here.

439
00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:11,000
I've already talked to the regent down in Tampa about our next Colorado trip.

440
00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:19,000
That was in the works before I even got here because I and I manifest these things.

441
00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:25,000
Last night, some of the musicians got together and we was just jamming.

442
00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:30,000
I saw the vision and it was like, you're going to come forward to Colorado.

443
00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:33,000
It's a different vibe here.

444
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:44,000
I was getting ready to say you've got a unique chance and perspective to see what's happening in Florida and Maryland at the time with their legalization and where they're at.

445
00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:49,000
Is Maryland in your mind a little bit further ahead?

446
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:54,000
They're actually moving into rec in Maryland, but in Florida it's still medical only.

447
00:41:54,000 --> 00:42:01,000
Let me say they're further enough for now for me, it thanks, you know what I mean?

448
00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:05,000
I got my medical card in Maryland, so I'm straight.

449
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:16,000
I would like to get some seeds and grow because it's such a beautiful thing to witness and be a part of, which I have no experience with, but I want to create that experience.

450
00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:21,000
Yeah, we talked about Maryland. I think it's allowing every resident, every 21.

451
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:28,000
It's going to be counting to counting for sure, but to grow a couple of their own plants, I think up to four plants per person.

452
00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:35,000
And it'll depend on county and what their local authorities will allow.

453
00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:39,000
But you mentioned it might be postponed a little bit.

454
00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:51,000
They say it might be a little delayed come July 1st, but they say that's typical for all states to go into the recreational realm.

455
00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:56,000
There's always a little giddy up at the beginning, but eventually it'll be smooth.

456
00:42:56,000 --> 00:43:05,000
We were talking about how you got a unique perspective of being in Florida and in Baltimore, and you like how Baltimore is a little bit more advanced, right?

457
00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:09,000
And you got to access everything you need with your MedCard.

458
00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:11,000
They're going to be able to grow there.

459
00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:16,000
But I've heard some stuff about Florida, and they've already been called out for it.

460
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:27,000
Some out of state or multi-state operators trying to pay off some politicians to really to control home grows, not to allow home grows,

461
00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:37,000
not to allow certain operator license just to control the market so they can have a monopoly of the market in Florida.

462
00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:43,000
There's some of the same people that are in West Virginia holding it back there, too.

463
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:47,000
I didn't get the card when I was in Florida.

464
00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:52,000
I didn't bother with it there because I didn't need to.

465
00:43:52,000 --> 00:44:00,000
I had good access to it just around where I didn't have to go the medical route.

466
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:08,000
But when I went to Baltimore, I didn't know as many people, so it was better for me to go the medical route.

467
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:15,000
Can you find this being kind of sketchy in trying to find some urban Baltimore without knowing people?

468
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:17,000
I just didn't know as many people.

469
00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:21,000
I've been gone away from Baltimore for 34 years.

470
00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:27,000
So I didn't really know any people.

471
00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:31,000
So it was a better route for me to just get the card.

472
00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:35,000
So in Florida, there's pretty readily in certain areas where they get your cannabis.

473
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:37,000
Yeah, you know, I was in Florida for quite a while.

474
00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:38,000
You know the right people?

475
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:40,000
Yeah, you know.

476
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:47,000
So down there, the herb grows completely different than it does here because of the climate.

477
00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:54,000
Here, you're going to find out, you know, see why I keep mine in these jars and I put the lids on it really quick.

478
00:44:54,000 --> 00:45:00,000
I'll let them sit out because it'll turn into Colorado crumble in a couple minutes.

479
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:03,000
This stuff right here.

480
00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:04,000
Watch.

481
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:09,000
By the time we get done in this little 20 minutes, this right here is going to be crumbly.

482
00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:11,000
And when I pulled it out of there, it was hard to break up.

483
00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:12,000
It probably will be.

484
00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:21,000
Yeah, I recommend trying to get a little better bag or something, or smoke a quick, or it regardless.

485
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:23,000
But in Florida, you've got the opposite.

486
00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:27,000
I'm sure it's really nice and fresh and sticky all the time, isn't it?

487
00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:28,000
Yeah, yeah.

488
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:33,000
What's the regular average humidity in Tampa?

489
00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:39,000
That I'm not sure, but I would say it's well over 70 percent.

490
00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:48,000
So 16 to 65 percent is going to be ideal for cannabis storage and consumption.

491
00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:52,000
A little bit less than that is going to start losing some of its terpenes.

492
00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:56,000
They are just volatile to dry and to heat.

493
00:45:56,000 --> 00:46:03,000
So if you let them get access to heat, some of the smell is going to be lost and you can't get it back.

494
00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:04,000
We were talking about the...

495
00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:05,000
I don't know what the percentage would be.

496
00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:07,000
We were talking about the concentrates.

497
00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:09,000
You just had a nice little dab.

498
00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:10,000
It will concentrate.

499
00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:12,000
You said you enjoyed it.

500
00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:16,000
I like the fact that it didn't make me cough my face off, you know?

501
00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:17,000
Yeah.

502
00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:21,000
Because who enjoys that?

503
00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:23,000
It's not good for you.

504
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:24,000
Yeah.

505
00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:31,000
I had bronchitis for probably two years in college because of smoking.

506
00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:35,000
Herb that was bad probably had pesticides or mold or something on it.

507
00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:39,000
I smoked tobacco for a little bit and I drank too much at the time.

508
00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:45,000
I'm pretty sure it was the pesticides or mold or something on the herb that triggered bronchitis.

509
00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:47,000
I coughed for like two years.

510
00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:51,000
I had such abdominal pains that I never wanted to cough again.

511
00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:55,000
It's really bad for your chest, your stomach, your abdomen.

512
00:46:55,000 --> 00:47:00,000
That's all about once again being able to select exactly what you want, you know?

513
00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:04,000
Not just have no options.

514
00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:11,000
So I was turned on to the same dab that you had or the same concentrate you just took the wrong way.

515
00:47:11,000 --> 00:47:17,000
The first time I had a dab, somebody heated up the little banger like you see here.

516
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:18,000
Way too hot.

517
00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:20,000
It was burning red.

518
00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:24,000
Put a dab on there, inhaled, and it was too hot.

519
00:47:24,000 --> 00:47:30,000
That combustion of everything is too much of an explosion of energy for your lungs to take.

520
00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:36,000
So he was saying, the expert there, Jason, he's kind of a surer on dabs.

521
00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:43,000
They have $1,000 rigs, just this little part, and the rest of it could be up to $20,000.

522
00:47:43,000 --> 00:47:46,000
You'll see some of them over here in just a little bit.

523
00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:52,000
Some of these unique and fascinating glass pieces of art basically.

524
00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:59,000
And little inserts that will go in there that will cost up to $1,000 just to maximize the taste

525
00:47:59,000 --> 00:48:04,000
and the flavor and the smoothness of it.

526
00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:10,000
It's a connoisseur thing now, like wine, especially for the Rosins.

527
00:48:10,000 --> 00:48:12,000
Like fine chocolates.

528
00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:20,000
These people just flew in from Florida just to come here and take dabs and smoke some of the weed here.

529
00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:22,000
It's a part of their experience, you know?

530
00:48:22,000 --> 00:48:27,000
Like they come here, they do that, they might go skiing, they might do some other things, you know?

531
00:48:27,000 --> 00:48:31,000
So here you're going to find cushions grow really well.

532
00:48:31,000 --> 00:48:39,000
Hybrids like the sativa that we smoked a little bit ago, those don't grow so well here

533
00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:46,000
just because of the dryness, altitude, and lack of moisture.

534
00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:49,000
Excuse me.

535
00:48:49,000 --> 00:48:52,000
Florida, you get longer days.

536
00:48:52,000 --> 00:48:57,000
Just like certain flowers will grow there better than up north.

537
00:48:57,000 --> 00:49:00,000
You have passionflower down in Florida, don't you?

538
00:49:00,000 --> 00:49:03,000
Passionflower.

539
00:49:03,000 --> 00:49:08,000
Think it's like a blue star shaped or something.

540
00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:12,000
I remember getting some seeds and trying to grow them up north, they just didn't grow.

541
00:49:12,000 --> 00:49:16,000
And you look at the region, they grow in Florida really well.

542
00:49:16,000 --> 00:49:23,000
And I met a girl from Florida who tried to grow them also, she didn't have any luck.

543
00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:34,000
But yeah, the days are longer, more humidity, you can get these sativas to grow more like certain terpene profiles.

544
00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:38,000
So what we were saying, talking about the different terpenes too,

545
00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:44,000
depending on where the plant's grown, it can affect those terpenes.

546
00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:54,000
The terpenes are, or the trichomes that contain the terpenes and cannabinoids are known to be like sunscreen for the plant.

547
00:49:54,000 --> 00:49:58,000
So it could be used as a sunscreen for you also.

548
00:49:58,000 --> 00:50:03,000
Or it's a mechanism to repel pests that they don't want on them.

549
00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:06,000
So if they boost up a lemon scent.

550
00:50:06,000 --> 00:50:14,000
That's a serious thing with the sunscreen because most of the sunscreen they got out there is not good for you at all.

551
00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:19,000
A lot of chemicals and they say it's good for you and now they're talking about cancer.

552
00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:22,000
It's good for you but not for kids.

553
00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:25,000
The sunscreen itself is good for cancer.

554
00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:33,000
I use coconut oil and I put a little cannabis in the coconut oil and will douse my body in it.

555
00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:40,000
Coconut oil itself is good for your skin and then the THC and cannabinoids in it.

556
00:50:40,000 --> 00:50:44,000
That's my theory and I've heard it from other people too that it will help with sunscreen.

557
00:50:44,000 --> 00:50:46,000
Everybody got a different science these days man.

558
00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:52,000
I know some people that just say don't put no coconut or any oil on your body or in your body.

559
00:50:52,000 --> 00:50:55,000
So everybody got it different way.

560
00:50:55,000 --> 00:51:02,000
It's just to hollow out what they want to believe in, who they heard it from and which they want to believe.

561
00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:09,000
A lot of times if they hear from a person that they look up to then they're probably going to believe it.

562
00:51:09,000 --> 00:51:16,000
You have to follow the science of your heart.

563
00:51:16,000 --> 00:51:18,000
I'm like a gut instinct.

564
00:51:18,000 --> 00:51:20,000
Absolutely.

565
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:26,000
I got this song I've been writing that has that line in it.

566
00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:29,000
I got some lyrics.

567
00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:35,000
It goes, I don't believe in nothing.

568
00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:39,000
I don't believe in nothing no more.

569
00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:44,000
No, I don't believe in nothing.

570
00:51:44,000 --> 00:51:49,000
I don't believe in nothing at all.

571
00:51:49,000 --> 00:51:54,000
What they're trying to tell you.

572
00:51:54,000 --> 00:51:58,000
I don't believe in nothing at all.

573
00:51:58,000 --> 00:52:02,000
And what they're trying to tell me.

574
00:52:02,000 --> 00:52:06,000
I don't believe in nothing no more.

575
00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:09,000
But I believe in love.

576
00:52:09,000 --> 00:52:12,000
I trust in my gut.

577
00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:16,000
With the basic instinct.

578
00:52:16,000 --> 00:52:21,000
To be a good human.

579
00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:26,000
To be a good dog.

580
00:52:26,000 --> 00:52:31,000
To be a cool cat.

581
00:52:31,000 --> 00:52:34,000
And you can't beat that.

582
00:52:34,000 --> 00:52:35,000
So that's basically it.

583
00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:37,000
I don't believe in nothing.

584
00:52:37,000 --> 00:52:39,000
But I believe in love.

585
00:52:39,000 --> 00:52:41,000
And I trust in my gut.

586
00:52:41,000 --> 00:52:46,000
And I just have this basic instinct to be a good human.

587
00:52:46,000 --> 00:52:47,000
To be a good dog.

588
00:52:47,000 --> 00:52:49,000
To be a cool cat.

589
00:52:49,000 --> 00:52:52,000
What's wrong with that?

590
00:52:52,000 --> 00:52:54,000
That's my goal too.

591
00:52:54,000 --> 00:52:56,000
I love the message in all your songs, man.

592
00:52:56,000 --> 00:52:58,000
Strength of consciousness.

593
00:52:58,000 --> 00:53:00,000
I'm going to put that to music.

594
00:53:00,000 --> 00:53:02,000
They got the dog crying about it.

595
00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:12,000
I'm going to put that to music to like a New Orleans type of Mardi Gras type of sound.

596
00:53:12,000 --> 00:53:14,000
I don't believe in nothing.

597
00:53:14,000 --> 00:53:16,000
Like that.

598
00:53:16,000 --> 00:53:18,000
I like it.

599
00:53:18,000 --> 00:53:22,000
So you've had two albums out with Rasta Rafiki, correct?

600
00:53:22,000 --> 00:53:23,000
Let me see.

601
00:53:23,000 --> 00:53:25,000
Another Strength of Consciousness.

602
00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:27,000
The first thing we put out was called Ecogeo.

603
00:53:27,000 --> 00:53:32,000
That was years ago, the first thing, and it was on a cassette.

604
00:53:32,000 --> 00:53:34,000
I don't think it even, it wasn't even on CD.

605
00:53:34,000 --> 00:53:36,000
It was just cassette.

606
00:53:36,000 --> 00:53:38,000
I've never seen or heard that one.

607
00:53:38,000 --> 00:53:40,000
Yeah, that was the very first one we put out.

608
00:53:40,000 --> 00:53:44,000
And then we put out this one called Cousins.

609
00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:48,000
And that was on cassette and CD too.

610
00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:50,000
I had that one on CD.

611
00:53:50,000 --> 00:53:52,000
That's the one with all the faces on it.

612
00:53:52,000 --> 00:53:54,000
It was black.

613
00:53:54,000 --> 00:54:01,000
And then the last one was Stream of Consciousness, which has a picture of the blue hole on it.

614
00:54:01,000 --> 00:54:05,000
That was a popular swim hole in Morbentown, Washington, Washington.

615
00:54:05,000 --> 00:54:06,000
It was.

616
00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:07,000
I know, at least it was.

617
00:54:07,000 --> 00:54:08,000
Yeah, I remember when they were many times.

618
00:54:08,000 --> 00:54:09,000
Not everybody knew about it.

619
00:54:09,000 --> 00:54:11,000
It was more of a local thing.

620
00:54:11,000 --> 00:54:13,000
If you knew a local, they would take you there.

621
00:54:13,000 --> 00:54:16,000
But if you didn't know a local, you were from out of state.

622
00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:21,000
Andy Lindsay would always tell me he's the bass player for Rasta Rafiki.

623
00:54:21,000 --> 00:54:23,000
Because he lives in Mason Town.

624
00:54:23,000 --> 00:54:24,000
Yeah.

625
00:54:24,000 --> 00:54:29,000
So yeah, my first year, somebody took me out there and I knew the secret swimming hole.

626
00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:32,000
There would always be maybe 10, 15 people out there.

627
00:54:32,000 --> 00:54:35,000
The road is a little treacherous to get there, right?

628
00:54:35,000 --> 00:54:37,000
Yeah, especially in spring after snow melt and the rain.

629
00:54:37,000 --> 00:54:39,000
And it would be all washed out.

630
00:54:39,000 --> 00:54:42,000
It's actually an entry point for whitewater rafting.

631
00:54:42,000 --> 00:54:50,000
So even if you get it at the wrong time, you'll have a big bus with a bunch of rafts coming at you on that little narrow, muddy road.

632
00:54:50,000 --> 00:54:52,000
It can be pretty hectic.

633
00:54:52,000 --> 00:55:02,000
On the cover of that stream of consciousness CD, those people that are depicted through, it's like it was a carving or something, a print.

634
00:55:02,000 --> 00:55:05,000
They were all there that day.

635
00:55:05,000 --> 00:55:09,000
Like we all went out there the night before and camped out there.

636
00:55:09,000 --> 00:55:13,000
And then the next day, people stayed out there and posed.

637
00:55:13,000 --> 00:55:20,000
Guy took a bunch of photographs of the whole area and then he put it together and made like a big print.

638
00:55:20,000 --> 00:55:21,000
Nice.

639
00:55:21,000 --> 00:55:26,000
So do you have any more records out or songs available?

640
00:55:26,000 --> 00:55:38,000
We do have some more songs that we've been recording over the years because Ross Rafiki broke up officially back in 1995, something like that.

641
00:55:38,000 --> 00:55:41,000
I'm terrible with time.

642
00:55:41,000 --> 00:55:46,000
Back in 1995, 96, we broke up for a while.

643
00:55:46,000 --> 00:55:51,000
And then after like 10 years or so, we got back together.

644
00:55:51,000 --> 00:55:59,000
As our drummer Steve Markle put it, our statue of limitations on our grievances had expired.

645
00:55:59,000 --> 00:56:03,000
So we got back together and we called it a family reunion.

646
00:56:03,000 --> 00:56:11,000
And we did some shows and we enjoyed each other so much that from that moment on, we kept getting together every summer.

647
00:56:11,000 --> 00:56:13,000
So put some time in it.

648
00:56:13,000 --> 00:56:17,000
1995 and then 10 years later, like around 2005.

649
00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:29,000
We've been doing that like that from 2005 after being broken up for 10 years every summer, 2006, 2007, all the way up to 2020.

650
00:56:29,000 --> 00:56:41,000
When everything happened in March, we were supposed to be getting together in March to do some shows that all got canceled right at the whole 2020 March thing.

651
00:56:41,000 --> 00:56:45,000
And we haven't been together since.

652
00:56:45,000 --> 00:56:47,000
And now we're getting together.

653
00:56:47,000 --> 00:56:52,000
So it's kind of like a little mini reunion tour after two, three year hiatus.

654
00:56:52,000 --> 00:56:59,000
You know, like people started to turn again, you know, Steve had just moved to California and he was like, I need a little break.

655
00:56:59,000 --> 00:57:04,000
So he didn't want to come back to West Virginia right away.

656
00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:08,000
So this is going to be nice, man.

657
00:57:08,000 --> 00:57:10,000
I wish you could be there.

658
00:57:10,000 --> 00:57:16,000
I might try to see if I could fly in. It's all going to be tight on the financials, but I'd love to be there.

659
00:57:16,000 --> 00:57:18,000
I'd do what I can to help you.

660
00:57:18,000 --> 00:57:23,000
I can get a nice videographer or something to videotape it.

661
00:57:23,000 --> 00:57:26,000
Do you have any YouTube videos out there?

662
00:57:26,000 --> 00:57:32,000
I'm trying to see how we can get some people to listen to some of your music out there and where it's available.

663
00:57:32,000 --> 00:57:41,000
My favorite Ross the Rafiki YouTube video is Ross the Rafiki Cousins.

664
00:57:41,000 --> 00:57:44,000
The song's called Cousins.

665
00:57:44,000 --> 00:57:46,000
Check that one. That's my favorite one.

666
00:57:46,000 --> 00:57:50,000
We'll put some links, whatever links we can find for you.

667
00:57:50,000 --> 00:57:53,000
We'll put them in the links in the description of the episode.

668
00:57:53,000 --> 00:57:56,000
That way if people want to listen, they can go click it and take it right to them.

669
00:57:56,000 --> 00:58:01,000
They don't have to do any searching, try to cut out the hard work for them.

670
00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:10,000
I had another project in Tampa I forgot all about because I haven't been able to do it called the Sunsetters.

671
00:58:10,000 --> 00:58:17,000
It was me. I played the drum kit and I sang and then my good friend Jose Paschini,

672
00:58:17,000 --> 00:58:25,000
he created a guitar where I watched him do it over the years because me and him played together for a good,

673
00:58:25,000 --> 00:58:31,000
we played together for a good 21 years in Tampa, just me and him as a duo.

674
00:58:31,000 --> 00:58:44,000
He took a guitar that he was comfortable with and he put two bass strings on it and four regular strings on it.

675
00:58:44,000 --> 00:58:49,000
He's from Brazil. He would play the bass with his thumb and play the rhythm.

676
00:58:49,000 --> 00:58:51,000
Sounds like a Flamingo style, right?

677
00:58:51,000 --> 00:58:54,000
Yeah, he had that type of influence although he said he never studied it.

678
00:58:54,000 --> 00:58:58,000
We would sound like four guys performing.

679
00:58:58,000 --> 00:59:01,000
So I had that going on in Tampa too.

680
00:59:01,000 --> 00:59:03,000
Did you guys ever get any recordings?

681
00:59:03,000 --> 00:59:06,000
We recorded a CD and I'm going to give you a copy of it.

682
00:59:06,000 --> 00:59:24,000
But the CD actually has more than just the two of us because I played drums and he played some bass on some and some keyboards on some, but Sunsetters.

683
00:59:24,000 --> 00:59:27,000
I have not had a chance to hear anything from Sunsetters.

684
00:59:27,000 --> 00:59:28,000
Oh, cool.

685
00:59:28,000 --> 00:59:32,000
I came right out of college, right out here for two years.

686
00:59:32,000 --> 00:59:37,000
I ended up getting married and moving to Spain. I lived in Spain for like 15 or 12 years.

687
00:59:37,000 --> 00:59:43,000
I was in Canada for three. I fell off on all American music, almost all American entertainment.

688
00:59:43,000 --> 00:59:47,000
That's something I did in Tampa. It's all original music.

689
00:59:47,000 --> 00:59:50,000
Sweet. I'm definitely going to bump this in my car.

690
00:59:50,000 --> 00:59:57,000
A couple of tracks, I worked with a keyboard player who was once with Ross Torefiki.

691
00:59:57,000 --> 01:00:10,000
His name was Chris Whitley, but he was with Ross Torefiki for a few years and then he ended up eventually touring with one of the reggae icons, Joseph Hill from Culture.

692
01:00:10,000 --> 01:00:18,000
And he was a part of the band that supported Joseph Hill for years until Joseph Hill passed away.

693
01:00:18,000 --> 01:00:27,000
Me and him stay in touch. He sends me musical tracks and ideas. He had an output lyrics to it and vice versa.

694
01:00:27,000 --> 01:00:35,000
So a couple of tracks on the end, he was involved in. So I hope you like it.

695
01:00:35,000 --> 01:00:40,000
I can't wait to give it a check in. I will definitely give you some feedback on that.

696
01:00:40,000 --> 01:00:54,000
And excuse me, we're going to wrap this up here and go over here and check out some more of the Connoisseur Collective and maybe check out a little bit more of Denver here next couple of days.

697
01:00:54,000 --> 01:00:58,000
I wish you had time to come up into the mountains and see that.

698
01:00:58,000 --> 01:01:07,000
Maybe we could set up a trip before the weekend, do a day trip up to the mountains because it's a whole other world up there.

699
01:01:07,000 --> 01:01:10,000
Still got snowfall up there.

700
01:01:10,000 --> 01:01:16,000
Weather is supposed to be iffy in the next couple of days from what I heard.

701
01:01:16,000 --> 01:01:22,000
Yeah, we'll check it out in scope. I ain't trying to deal with too much cold and snow.

702
01:01:22,000 --> 01:01:26,000
We'll see. I might have had the right shoes though.

703
01:01:26,000 --> 01:01:32,000
Nah, I wouldn't take you into a snowstorm or nothing. It shouldn't be too bad up there now.

704
01:01:32,000 --> 01:01:41,000
But when it does snow up there, it turns into spring, 50 degrees in the daytime, below freezing at night, so it melts.

705
01:01:41,000 --> 01:01:51,000
It's like skiing in t-shirts up there sometimes for the next two, three weeks and then it finishes up and there won't be any snow at all.

706
01:01:51,000 --> 01:01:58,000
Like I told you, I'm going to be back through because I already manifested. I'm bringing the Florida crew to Colorado.

707
01:01:58,000 --> 01:02:02,000
We'll do something right in the backyard right there on the compound right here.

708
01:02:02,000 --> 01:02:07,000
We'll advertise it guys. If it gets out here and it happens, I'm going to advertise it on the podcast.

709
01:02:07,000 --> 01:02:11,000
We'll get a nice little crowd out here to check out the Sunsetters.

710
01:02:11,000 --> 01:02:13,000
That's going to be One Love Rising.

711
01:02:13,000 --> 01:02:19,000
One Love Rising. All right. The One Love Rising is the current group. This is Sunsetters. I got the two confused.

712
01:02:19,000 --> 01:02:26,000
I've seen you post both of them on Facebook. If you want to follow Derek on Facebook, it's Derek McDonald.

713
01:02:26,000 --> 01:02:28,000
I'll actually put a link in there.

714
01:02:28,000 --> 01:02:34,000
Sunsetters is a Tampa-based thing. We don't really travel too much, but One Love Rising, we're trying to make some moves.

715
01:02:34,000 --> 01:02:36,000
We're trying to move around.

716
01:02:36,000 --> 01:02:45,000
One Love Rising, if anybody out there looking for some reggae artists to come by Denver, we'll try to set up a couple shows for them.

717
01:02:45,000 --> 01:02:52,000
Yeah, because we're going to link up with some of the local musicians because I got some local musician friends that I've known from West Virginia

718
01:02:52,000 --> 01:03:01,000
who live here outside of Denver in Lawn Mound. I've known him for a long time and played in bands with him for a long time.

719
01:03:01,000 --> 01:03:10,000
We're going to link up with him and have a local, but it's going to be local artists, but us all together, jamming.

720
01:03:10,000 --> 01:03:17,000
Up in the Boulder area too, from here up towards Boulder, there's a lot of music seen up in Boulder. It's a younger crowd up there.

721
01:03:17,000 --> 01:03:19,000
That's the college town up there.

722
01:03:19,000 --> 01:03:21,000
You've got to link me up.

723
01:03:21,000 --> 01:03:24,000
A couple different vendors up there that play.

724
01:03:24,000 --> 01:03:27,000
If we do this thing here, you've got to help me link up some other stuff too.

725
01:03:27,000 --> 01:03:33,000
These guys know some more people too. We'll definitely look out and see where we can find some spots.

726
01:03:33,000 --> 01:03:39,000
Looking for some reggae bands out there. I know there's a couple radio stations out here too that play some reggae.

727
01:03:39,000 --> 01:03:43,000
It's going to be mad love. That's a Ross Rodriguez cut right there.

728
01:03:43,000 --> 01:03:51,000
I got the same song. I got Dr. Earv with my phone ringing too. He's Dr. Earv coming on.

729
01:03:51,000 --> 01:03:57,000
That one was a song that actually Don of the Buffalo wrote for and about Ross Rodriguez.

730
01:03:57,000 --> 01:04:03,000
Jeb Peryear. You know Jeb Peryear. He's the lead guy with Don of the Buffalo.

731
01:04:03,000 --> 01:04:05,000
I know Don of the Buffalo. I didn't know the name.

732
01:04:05,000 --> 01:04:11,000
He wrote a song about and for us. It's called West Virginia Ross DeFarai.

733
01:04:11,000 --> 01:04:19,000
I was going to say a little bit ago that when you went to West Virginia, did you find a little West Virginia Ross DeFarai crew?

734
01:04:19,000 --> 01:04:24,000
Or is that just from his song? Was there a Ross DeFarai crew there?

735
01:04:24,000 --> 01:04:32,000
He wrote that song about us because we played together. We played shows together.

736
01:04:32,000 --> 01:04:39,000
His band got in touch with Tom Bachelon and was like, hey, can we come to Morgantown and do a show with y'all?

737
01:04:39,000 --> 01:04:41,000
We heard you guys got a little scene. We're like sure.

738
01:04:41,000 --> 01:04:46,000
Then we're like, hey, can we come up to New York and do a show with y'all because we heard y'all got a little scene.

739
01:04:46,000 --> 01:04:48,000
That's how we got to know each other.

740
01:04:48,000 --> 01:04:55,000
Then Don of the Buffalo got the greatest idea of all to get their own fricking tent and their own equipment

741
01:04:55,000 --> 01:04:59,000
and start throwing their own fricking festivals, which became the grassroots

742
01:04:59,000 --> 01:05:04,000
and all the great festivals that Don of the Buffalo had been a part of.

743
01:05:04,000 --> 01:05:09,000
One day Jeff came up on our bus and was like, hey, I wrote a song for y'all.

744
01:05:09,000 --> 01:05:12,000
We're like half asleep because we've been driving all night.

745
01:05:12,000 --> 01:05:16,000
He broke out his guitar and he started singing it.

746
01:05:16,000 --> 01:05:21,000
He says, I wrote this song for y'all. Y'all should play this.

747
01:05:21,000 --> 01:05:27,000
It was beautiful and we recorded it.

748
01:05:27,000 --> 01:05:30,000
That's a great story.

749
01:05:30,000 --> 01:05:34,000
So, Derek, I highly appreciate you coming on the show.

750
01:05:34,000 --> 01:05:36,000
I think the dog needs to go out here.

751
01:05:36,000 --> 01:05:40,000
He likes to thank you for coming on the show too. We got his attention.

752
01:05:40,000 --> 01:05:42,000
All right, brother.

753
01:05:42,000 --> 01:05:43,000
Love you, brother.

754
01:05:43,000 --> 01:05:44,000
Thank you.

755
01:05:44,000 --> 01:05:47,000
Definitely going to hit the links up in the descriptions.

756
01:05:47,000 --> 01:05:50,000
That way everybody knows where they can follow you at.

757
01:05:50,000 --> 01:05:53,000
We'll get this done here. I love to see you come out here and play.

758
01:05:53,000 --> 01:05:55,000
I appreciate it, man.

759
01:05:55,000 --> 01:05:57,000
All right. Thanks for tuning in, everyone.

760
01:05:57,000 --> 01:06:02,000
We'll be back next week with another show. Until then, peace and love.

761
01:06:02,000 --> 01:06:08,000
I also want to give thanks to the Connoisseur Collective for letting me use your space to record this episode with Derek.

762
01:06:08,000 --> 01:06:16,000
Coming up soon on May 6th, Pato Bantan will be playing down at the Connoisseur Collective in Wheat Ridge.

763
01:06:16,000 --> 01:06:39,000
If you want to get tickets, go to theconnoisseurcup.com for more information.

764
01:06:39,000 --> 01:06:42,000
Hey, have you hugged your country boots today?

765
01:06:42,000 --> 01:06:44,000
Do you smoke marijuana?

766
01:06:44,000 --> 01:06:47,000
This is what's going on to our meditators.

767
01:06:47,000 --> 01:07:06,000
Dr. Irv.

768
01:07:06,000 --> 01:07:09,000
Yo, I need the doctor.

769
01:07:09,000 --> 01:07:13,000
Yes, I need my diggity diggity doctor.

770
01:07:13,000 --> 01:07:16,000
Yes, I need that doctor.

771
01:07:16,000 --> 01:07:20,000
Yes, I need my diggity diggity doctor.

772
01:07:20,000 --> 01:07:23,000
Yo, where is that doctor?

773
01:07:23,000 --> 01:07:27,000
Yo, where is the diggity diggity doctor?

774
01:07:27,000 --> 01:07:30,000
Yes, we need that doctor.

775
01:07:30,000 --> 01:07:47,000
Yes, we need that doctor.

776
01:07:47,000 --> 01:07:54,000
One joint a day, it keeps your feeling in a positive way.

777
01:07:54,000 --> 01:08:01,000
One joint a day, yes, will keep a negative feeling away.

778
01:08:01,000 --> 01:08:08,000
Just one joint a day, I keep my conscience conscious all day.

779
01:08:08,000 --> 01:08:15,000
One joint a day, but some I smoke up many more in the day.

780
01:08:15,000 --> 01:08:22,000
Yes, I smoke that herb and it talks to me.

781
01:08:22,000 --> 01:08:25,000
Yes, I smoke that herb.

782
01:08:25,000 --> 01:08:54,000
Yes, I have a doctor to my diggity diggity doctor.

783
01:08:54,000 --> 01:08:57,000
Yes, I need that doctor.

784
01:08:57,000 --> 01:09:01,000
Yes, I need my diggity diggity doctor.

785
01:09:01,000 --> 01:09:04,000
Yes, we need that doctor.

786
01:09:04,000 --> 01:09:08,000
Yes, I need that diggity diggity doctor.

787
01:09:08,000 --> 01:09:11,000
Yo, where is that doctor?

788
01:09:11,000 --> 01:09:25,000
Yo, where is that diggity diggity doctor?

789
01:09:25,000 --> 01:09:42,000
Yes, I need that doctor.

790
01:09:42,000 --> 01:09:49,000
You see, I'm a meditator on the top of every hour.

791
01:09:49,000 --> 01:09:56,000
Yes, herb I'm in a smoke, yeah, to find herb strength and power.

792
01:09:56,000 --> 01:10:03,000
And when this task is done, I call for running over.

793
01:10:03,000 --> 01:10:14,000
And the notion in me now to walk about I town and smoke that herb.

794
01:10:14,000 --> 01:10:19,000
Yes, then you talk to me.

795
01:10:19,000 --> 01:10:22,000
Yes, yeah, you smoke that herb.

796
01:10:22,000 --> 01:10:50,000
To the doctor herb.

797
01:10:50,000 --> 01:11:18,000
The herb is a kind but the herb is a bush.

798
01:11:18,000 --> 01:11:24,000
The herb is a kind but the herb is a bush.

799
01:11:23,000 --> 01:11:38,000
Herb'll make ya high.

800
01:11:24,000 --> 01:11:32,000
Herb is just a kind.

801
01:11:38,000 --> 01:11:45,000
Well you think you're making me a nutcase.

802
01:12:15,000 --> 01:12:17,000
Use herb to seed.

803
01:12:21,000 --> 01:12:24,000
A cancer patient use herb to eat.

804
01:12:28,000 --> 01:12:32,000
For the AIDS patient need to make the herb free.

805
01:12:36,000 --> 01:12:39,000
Let's work upon these patches immediately.

806
01:12:41,000 --> 01:12:44,000
Yes, the herbs are naturally doctored.

807
01:12:44,000 --> 01:12:46,000
Yes, the natural doctor.

808
01:12:46,000 --> 01:12:48,000
Herbs are natural doctors.

809
01:12:48,000 --> 01:12:50,000
Yes, the natural doctor.

810
01:12:50,000 --> 01:12:52,000
Yes, the herb doctor.

811
01:12:52,000 --> 01:12:54,000
Yes, the natural doctor.

812
01:12:54,000 --> 01:12:56,000
No, don't call it a comeback.

813
01:12:56,000 --> 01:12:58,000
It's been here for years.

814
01:12:58,000 --> 01:13:17,000
Don't diss herbal doctors from rumors you've heard.

815
01:13:17,000 --> 01:13:24,000
The man's not drugged, they'll all call him Dr. Err.

816
01:13:24,000 --> 01:13:28,000
For the healing meditation and good vibration.

817
01:13:28,000 --> 01:13:32,000
For food, fuel, fiber, and a little bit of fun.

818
01:13:32,000 --> 01:13:36,000
See the joint ain't necessarily the point, but I want one.

819
01:13:36,000 --> 01:13:39,000
For the doctor.

820
01:13:39,000 --> 01:13:42,000
At 1993 we're gonna be like a doctor.

821
01:13:42,000 --> 01:13:44,000
We're gonna be like a doctor.

822
01:13:44,000 --> 01:13:46,000
We're gonna be like a doctor.

823
01:13:46,000 --> 01:13:48,000
We're gonna be like a doctor.

824
01:13:48,000 --> 01:13:50,000
We're gonna be like a doctor.

825
01:13:50,000 --> 01:13:52,000
We're gonna be like a doctor.

826
01:13:52,000 --> 01:13:55,000
At 1993 we're gonna be like a doctor.

827
01:13:55,000 --> 01:14:14,200
What a bottom herring.

828
01:14:14,200 --> 01:14:16,200
You