Radio Profound or Superficial

My life is in a peculiar stage of metamorphosis.  For one thing, I always feel like our radio show is on the verge of some grand new moment.  I have never cherished anything professionally like I do Marijuana Radio.  It’s more popular than it ever has been.

I’m also turning 36 years old this fall and am expecting a baby girl on the way.  I have mixed feelings about these occasions. I am thrilled to have a child, but it also means my certain eventual decline, and in another way, I cherish the stage I’m at for the seriousness of my pursuits.

Lately though I have felt a great restlessness that has been hard to manage. I have spent hours trying to figure out how to take the show to a new level of success.  In so many ways, the niche of marijuana has been a blessing in business, it has allowed us to actually carry on a dream podcast.  Read it and weep, Marijuana Radio is and has been a rare self sustaining and singular commercial entity.  Yes, I said commercial.   The pleasure of business every step of the way is that it has been constantly growing and leading to new opportunities.

The best part is the radio.  I love getting on and letting the creative juices flow.  I am really pleased to have DanK and McKenna to share the mix with.  Dick Black adds an occasional special variety.   That’s right, I swear, it is all about the ensemble.  The situation we’re in is plainly unique.  I know the role I play, and I try to share the air.  I don’t want to hog the spotlight, even though when I am passionate, I may.

I want an opportunity for the show to appear on a larger medium and give new life to our creative and political potential.  The truth is, I can’t any longer be the lone one responsible to bring all the future magic.   I need other people in unique positions, and people with cutting edge skills to help me bridge the gap to our next era of success in this company.  I would love to give up the hassles of the company and be put on the air at Sirius XM Radio.  I don’t know the slightest thing about whether they’d even look twice in our direction, but I like to think they would.

It’s hard to come up with the right words to explain how I’ve been feeling.  For practically anything that I love, once in a while I feel the need to call it in to doubt to force reflection upon my situation.  It’s how I’m wired, and right now I feel overwhelmed trying to make this radio program grow and thrive.  But I love it, and there’s still this fire in me that says it must survive, and it will play a role in changing people’s minds in a positive way about marijuana.  Stress about the show is not even the radio program itself as much as the business behind it, which must be strong to ensure it’s survival, plus it must be built with solid and reliable people.

We have established a really rich history, and for me to go on, I want to know some things.  Could we have 1 million listeners from the internet alone?  I’ll tell you what, if we could, I would be just as happy going on without a transition to Satellite Radio.

I remember a few times in the past few years I leave my work here and go to happy hour in a bar called ‘My Brother’s Bar.’  I usually have a nice size beer and a shot or two of Tequila.  The patrone Tequila has quiet an affect on how I feel.  The best way I can describe it is a momentary feeling of prescience, as in, I feel like my work is my destiny, and I know that I’m fulfilling it.  Lately I have not had a shot of tequila, and I wonder how I’d feel if I had one.   Quite literally, my Tequila drunken mind gives me a perception of greatness that is inspiring and for a moment gives me direction.

Sometimes it pains me to think that my own words don’t matter.  I don’t always come across as a person who wants to listen, but sometimes I don’t have the personal constitution to stomach certain debates, and I regard this as a fundamental flaw of mine.  When right to me is clearly right, I suspend the notion that I have to wait for others around me to catch up.  Rather than trying to understand someone’s perspective, I come to a point of full condemnation, resembling nothing of diplomacy.  Glenn Beck for example, I won’t give reasons why, but he’s a condemned fellow in my mind, a reasonless demon.  For all the nonsense we engage in on Marijuana Radio, when I am serious, you can be certain that I’m bloody serious.  If I were a Glenn Beck sort, I’d bend my most fundamental principles in a moment’s notice, depending on the political wind around me.

I feel the fundamental original intended freedom of our country has been gravely compromised.  I also feel that Marijuana Radio is a growing stage which can gain more relevance.  We can mature and become more important.  Our audience can grow and we can have a measurable affect on change.  I have to believe this to go on, and I do believe this.

For whatever filthy banter might come out of Marijuana Radio, nothing matters more than meaningful dialogue. Prohibition causes me to feel a personal threat to myself and friends, which part of me feels content expressing on the radio, and the other part of me knows changing the nature of the threat comes far too slowly.  I suffer in my own pit of self loathing, as if I should somehow be the one able to speed up the pace of it all.  I want this radio show to be an epicenter where everyone interested in this topic wants to speak their mind.  This is an honest radio show.  We were not deliberately conceived to resemble any other radio show out there, and for what it is, I really think it stands singularly on its own.

But how can we change things?  Aren’t we just superficial all the time?  I don’t think so.  We can change minds.  Deep people will hear meaningful moments in our program.

Sitting down to write these words now has made me feel a deeper sense of direction and purpose.  Even still, it’s a struggle to keep this thing going.  I have to ask again, can Marijuana Radio thrive and grow to continually justify its existence?

We’d sure love to achieve a new level relevance and notoriety.  Can you help?  Do you think this is possible? Please, share your ideas.

Speaking on the Steps

I got the opportunity to say a few words in front of the capital building during the DNC rally put on by Miguel Lopez. Thank you for the opportunity to speak, Miguel.

It was quite a surreal experience being able to get on a microphone and speak my mind about marijuana prohibition.

I would like to encourage people who are inspired to come out to future rallies.

Alas, you will soon have the chance.

Come out to March on the Democratic National Convention.

THURSDAY August 28th at 1:45pm
Lincoln Park
12th Avenue & Mariposa Street

This is our time!

After many tedious weeks, it gives me great pleasure to debut our new website. The old one did not do Marijuana Radio justice.  We aspire to be remarkable at what we do, so why shouldn’t our website be?

I have never worked harder on a website.  It’s my hope that it will help to continue to raise our professional profile in this amazing and passionate industry.

We are hell bent to make change and succeed at what we do. We do so by putting our lifestyles out there without shame.  

To me, above all else, Marijuana Radio is about freedom.  We are good people and work in a community full of good people who do not deserve the fear of criminalization.  I hope that our program will help break the stigma associated with pot use. Whether for recreational or medical purposes, it is not the job, or the right of anyone to deny us our special culture. Prohibition is a form of torture and it is only tragic to me when a non violent person goes to jail for growing this plant. The law is vastly overboard and must be changed.  Marijuana prohibition is not a law that anyone should be proud of with respect to freedom.    

My grandfather made wine.  My uncles make wine.  I would like to grow marijuana, but I am not allowed.  I am not permitted to grow a safer drug than alcohol.   

In the future I only hope to make every aspect of what we’re doing with Marijuana Radio bigger and better. It’s never good enough for me, and this is the drive that keeps everything improving.

There is nothing like the breath of fresh air in new media.  We exist to stand out like a sore thumb in the world of podcasting.  We aspire to be bullocks in the world of aggressive legalization efforts, and at the heart of it all do so by entertaining you.

We have been blessed to have the help of outfits like Suburban Noize Records and Silverback Music to enrich the sonic experience of our media.  Please support musicians on our program by buying their music! The experience of the show would be less rich if we did not have these outfits helping us out.  I can only extend to them the greatest of gratitude for making it feel like our ‘dreams’ are coming true.  

Everyone who wants should take part.  Join the forums and be a part of our special community! 

Pay attention for the debut of our VIP Smoke Room.  This unique area is to be a reward for listeners who donate and support our program.  We work very hard to bring you a great show, and you can help us grow to become the most important marijuana legalization and entertainment phenomenon of our generation.

My fellow pot smokers or users, help us make our dreams come true and by doing so, you’re moving all of us closer to a day when we can smoke in the open and have no fear of doing so.

Peace! 

Test post for Paul’s BLog

Testing dude.

Yeah?