It's hard to believe it's been five years since the Fare Thee Well tour 2015 was the Grateful Dead's 50th anniversary; Jim Marty and Larry Mishkin share their experiences from that year's Fare Thee Well tour at Soldiers Field Chicago. They also talk about promising, break-through cannabis Covid-19 research out of Canada and an exciting cannabis discovery from Israel. Produced by PodCONX https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkin https://podconx.com/guests/jim-marty https://podconx.com/guests/rob-hunt Photo Courtesy of Jay Blakesberg Photography
It's hard to believe it's been five years since the Fare Thee Well tour
2015 was the Grateful Dead's 50th anniversary; Jim Marty and Larry Mishkin share their experiences from that year's Fare Thee Well tour at Soldiers Field Chicago. They also talk about promising, break-through cannabis Covid-19 research out of Canada and an exciting cannabis discovery from Israel.
https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkin
https://podconx.com/guests/jim-marty
https://podconx.com/guests/rob-hunt
Photo Courtesy of Jay Blakesberg Photography
Jim Marty: [00:00:35] Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Deadhead Cannabis show. This is Jim Marty reporting from sunny and warm Longmont, Colorado. I've got my partner up in Chicago, Larry Mishkin. How you doing, Larry? Jim's always nice to hear from you. I'm doing just fine, thank you. It's a lovely day in Chicago. Beautiful weather outside.
Larry Mishkin: [00:00:56] Great weather forecast for the weekend. Everybody's in a good mood. Little by little, things are beginning to open up here again. And it's just nice to see people getting outside. What about in your part of the world?
Jim Marty: [00:01:10] Colorado is really getting back to normal, even have traffic so much. Mostly everything's open. Gyms, beauty salons, hair salons all opened up in the last few days. But now the restaurants are serving inside and outside. But there are no bars stores, so you can't sit at the bar. You have to sit at a table, which is has social distancing between the tables.
Larry Mishkin: [00:01:38] Ok. Well, let's look at them. That's a good start. Yes.
Jim Marty: [00:01:42] I think, you know, at some point we just have to learn to live with this corona disease that doesn't seem to affect people under the age of 60. Very much so. We'll see how things go. But they are slowly getting back to normal, as I mentioned last week. I think the only ski area in North America is opened and had a good day ski in there last week, but I'm done for the year. Notes to be 90 tomorrow. So it's hard to get into skiing, although they'll be open for another few weeks.
Larry Mishkin: [00:02:15] That's just incredible. I love that idea that, you know, it can be 90 at the base and, you know, 30 at the top and you can still ski for a little while musically.
Jim Marty: [00:02:25] Still not much going on. Nothing really. As far as social gatherings for music or baseball.
Larry Mishkin: [00:02:34] Right.
Jim Marty: [00:02:34] We do look forward to getting baseball season going again. I guess there's some sort of a labor dispute between the players and the league on how much they'll get paid for the rest of the short season. What do you hear on baseball, Larry?
Larry Mishkin: [00:02:53] You know, Jim, it's very interesting. I'm as big a baseball fan as you'll ever find.
Larry Mishkin: [00:02:57] And, you know, without hoping not to alienate any of our listeners, I'm a huge St. Louis Cardinals fan and really follow it religiously. But it's almost like, you know, when they when they went on strike and you just say to yourself, well, it's not going to happen. And I find myself no longer rushing to look at the sports page, rushing to check out ESPN. And I figure, you know, when they come back, they'll come back. But, yes, I have heard talk of labor. And I you know, I always have a hard time imagining these people going in labor disputes where there's so much money available to, you know, that they have to that they have to fight over it. But what do I know? I'm just a lawyer, but I do miss that baseball. And, you know, if you really think about it and you mentioned this during our little preshow chat, you know, this is the time of the year when, you know, things would be happening in past years. So this weekend or the previous weekend, I would have been out in Aspen, Colorado, for the normal annual legal committee meeting, which is always a highlight for me every year in terms of the people I get to see out there and the things that I learned and the fun that everybody has.
Larry Mishkin: [00:04:04] But, you know, we talk about sports. We're also, of course, on this show so focused on life music and with the weather, this beautiful you know, it's really hard to believe that there's not a concert somewhere that we could all head out to. And then you made the various Stewart observation, which was both a student, somewhat scary to me. It's already been five years since you and I met up in Chicago for the Grateful Dead fiftieth reunion, the fare thee well shows at Soldier Field. And when that happened, when we had those shows, we all said, oh, my goodness. Who can believe how long it's been now since Jerry is gone 20 years. And here we are five years later in the blink of an eye. And boy, would I give anything to be able to head out to Soldier Field one of these days for another one of those shows.
Jim Marty: [00:04:44] Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed that. And, you know, we filled that stadium up, packed and wonderful shows were truly honest. As you doing Jerry's part trade from fish.
Jim Marty: [00:04:59] Oh, yeah. Played really. And actually, I've been listening and watching some of that video recently, and I'm glad he did such a great job. And I love those pictures of him backstage with Bill Walson just towering over him, pictures that many of him, which, by the way, were taken by our good friend and previous guest, Jay Blacksburg.
Jim Marty: [00:05:18] Right. Right. Yeah. That's a great book that came with the book.
Larry Mishkin: [00:05:22] Yeah, isn't it? It's all. It's it's really good stuff. That's why, you know, for me, that's why it's worth it. I spent a few extra bucks and I get that because you just get all this good extra stuff they throw in there.
Larry Mishkin: [00:05:32] And, you know, I'm the kind of guy that sits there and reads every word of it because you never know when you're going to either be on Jeopardy or on a podcast, or you're gonna have to have a good working knowledge of the Grateful Dead.
Jim Marty: [00:05:42] So I have a funny soldier field story. We were outside the stadium before we went in. And, you know, Soldiers Field is surrounded by a beautiful car. What's the name of the park that surrounds the grandpa? Yes. And my buddy and I and our crew of five or six were over by the bushes outside the stadium. Get ready. Go in. And this girl comes by with kaleidoscope eyes and a baseball hat on sideways where it all hit because she says, oh, my God, this is I have to pee so that I just got to pee. As he walks just a few steps away from us, flips up her dress, squats down and pees right there in Grant Park. And these other girls noticed you're doing that, the next thing we know, there was a line of girls with their hippie skirts flipped up over their hips and hey, it's a Grateful Dead show that you're going to.
Larry Mishkin: [00:06:38] You're going to run into those kind of things from time to time. Some places you might even run into him inside the shelf. That was a funny story, though.
Jim Marty: [00:06:45] Yeah, that was right after you and later stepped outside of the stadium.
Larry Mishkin: [00:06:50] That's right. It was very nice. I had an opportunity to see. It was the first time I met some of your boys and some of your friends back from Colorado.
Larry Mishkin: [00:06:57] You guys, it all made the journey out. I was out there with a number of my friends as well, but it was nice.
Larry Mishkin: [00:07:04] We had a chance to hook up in and chat for a few minutes and kind of debrief the previous night's show and get ready for that night's show. And you know that that's the part that I think I really miss night. And I understand when people say, hey, look, even without Jerry and, you know, with John Mayer, we still have the opportunity. I'll be out there and get together. And that's true. You know, that's what I'm really missing is something on the books where, hey, it's almost the end of June. We're you know, we were in fact, this weekend or next, we would have all been going out to sell to our Wrigley Field for the for the shows that had been scheduled here.
Larry Mishkin: [00:07:41] And, you know, we know it's at least a year off before they'll play in Wrigley Field again. And who knows until when we'll see him again anywhere.
Jim Marty: [00:07:50] Well, I think we will. Yeah, kind of missing.
Jim Marty: [00:07:54] We'll be coming up on the last weekend of June is traditionally three widespread panic shows at Red Rocks. Right. So I've been listening to some widespread panic. In fact, our son Jack posted a video of him playing the widespread song, Please. Huh? And David schools tagged him that he liked it.
Larry Mishkin: [00:08:16] Wow. OK. Well, that's impressive. David David to our audience is the bass player for widespread panic who's known both for his large girth as well as his incredible bass playing.
Larry Mishkin: [00:08:28] He's he's really something special up there. He's you know, I guess it's fair to call the Phil Lesh of widespread panic.
Jim Marty: [00:08:36] Yes. There's nothing like seeing David schools in widespread panic at Red Rocks with him leaning back as his legs spread, its feet spread wide.
Jim Marty: [00:08:45] Big old base on his big old stomach. And he can just fill up the Red Rock with those big bass notes.
Larry Mishkin: [00:08:51] Yes, he does. He's he's he's something special in there. They are a lot of fun. I've never seen them in Red Rocks, but if they ever get to do it again, that will be something that I will have to really look towards having an opportunity to go check out and see.
Jim Marty: [00:09:05] Yes, it's very fun.
Larry Mishkin: [00:09:07] Yeah, because they do a satta Friday night, Saturday night, and they wrap up about midnight. And then on Sunday they start the shows at five or six p.m. So the first set is in broad daylight. And that's always a lot of fun.
Larry Mishkin: [00:09:23] Yep. That's what they used to do with the dead up at Alpine Valley. They would start to set late afternoon. So the first set would be outside of the sun.
Larry Mishkin: [00:09:30] And I always felt bad for Jerry because, you know, like in any venue, they don't want the sun shining on the eyes of the audience who are trying to see the stage. So the sun would come in over the audience's head and hit right down on the stage. And just at the hour they would start those shows. The sun would just be beating down on the stage and Jerry would come out with those with those shades of his on.
Larry Mishkin: [00:09:51] And, you know, my buddies and I used to get a kick out of it because he'd be up there playing and we'd. We'd bet. How many times, you know, the glasses would slide down his nose and he didn't have to. Barely the flick of an eye. We'll punch him back up on his face and get right back down there and play it again. And, you know, the second set, of course, it would be darker and then all the lighting from the theater would pick up. But, yeah, those summertime shows are really special and you don't realize how much you miss him. So you're not going to win.
Jim Marty: [00:10:19] Yeah, it's the same thing. And Red Rocks the stage face as well. So in those afternoon shows, they get the sun right, beating down on the stage on them. So. Well, we were speaking about Chicago, how Chicago doing and you know, the dispensaries. I know some of them were looted and they closed down voluntarily.
Jim Marty: [00:10:40] They weren't closed down because of the pandemic, because I think they were considered essential services. Right. But give us an update of what went on with the don't use dispensaries in downtown Chicago.
Larry Mishkin: [00:10:52] Yeah. So for the most part, what's happening in Chicago right now is that things are slowly but surely beginning to return to normal in the city.
Larry Mishkin: [00:11:00] There haven't been any problems the last few nights. And I suspect that before long everything will be back to normal. However, when you say normal, we obviously have to say that with a grain of salt, because what we really mean is back to Cauvin, 19 normal, whatever that was. So, you know, with all these layers on top of each other. But yes, there was some rioting and unfortunately, some of the dispensaries were targeted along with everybody else. Although, you know, as I. I like to say it's unfortunate that it happened, but you can't have an adult use dispensary looted if there is an adult use dispensary in existence in the first place. And, you know, as we talk about it and we say, boy, isn't that a shame? It it is. I don't mean to, you know, to to suggest anything to the contrary. You know, there's a part of me that can't help but say, wow, this is amazing. You know, among all the businesses that we're getting looted, we always hear about grocery stores and know try to take off A.T.M. machines and all sorts of stuff like that. Now, marijuana dispensaries are in the mix. And, you know, it's just it's a statement, I think, Jim, of how far we've come with everything, with marijuana, with THC. You know, since you and I first met way back in 2013 and, you know, the fact that we have anything like this happening in Illinois is fantastic. And I think that, you know, people are excited enough about the program that it's kind of tempering the overall frustration that many of us are feeling because the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has still not yet announced the winners of the dispensary licenses, which were supposed to be announced on May 1st.
Larry Mishkin: [00:12:36] And now here we are on June. Will, whatever day we are on, I apologize. I don't have my calendar in front of me, but the second week in June, and we still don't have not only any announcements, but any indication of a date as to where the announcements are going to be made. And at the very same time of the July 1st announcement, deadline for cultivation, processing and transportation is quickly creeping up on us as well. And nobody knows. Will they announce those? For right now, it's still that announced dispensary. Will they wait to announce the these others until they announce dispensary first and keep it in the order in which they had originally intended? And we just don't know. So it's it's unfortunate. I know I realize it's a big job. And I appreciate the fact that we now have state leadership that's in support of this type of program. It is helping move it forward. But certainly from the perspective of the people that have invested so much time and money into trying to get a license, it would be wonderful if we had some answers for them, even if it was just that they can expect an answer by a certain date.
Jim Marty: [00:13:43] Now, are the government offices and the courthouses in Chicago open and functioning?
Larry Mishkin: [00:13:49] No.
Larry Mishkin: [00:13:51] And it's interesting you say that because in my book, I still, although maybe not quite as much jokingly anymore, referred to as my day job, which is my legal practice that is not Cannabis related. I'm a commercial litigator and spend a lot of my time in the Cook County courts and the Cook County courts are now we're possibly going to open at the end of this month, but have now been or excuse me, at the end of May. But it's now been determined that they're going to stay closed until the second week of July and then the second week of July. They'll make another determination as to what they want to do and whether they'll be able to open them up. But that's been very frustrating, you know, especially if you have cases that are pending and people want answers on those and all sorts of stuff. But it's also been frustrating. Some of the state offices have opened. We had clients who were trying to get various operating agreements and things like that filed as we got to the filing deadlines for the last round. And of course, all the state offices were closed, the secretary of state, so we could get certain documents on file. But the state told us that as long as we could submit an affidavit that said we have an application that's pending with the secretary of state's office, which we were able to do to show that, in fact, it is waiting down there to be filed.
Larry Mishkin: [00:15:10] And I do know that the secretary of state's office has reopened because these documents have been filed that have now come back to my office. So I take that as a positive sign. So, you know, I think things are moving in the right direction. You know, we appreciate the job that Governor Pritzker has done here. I know some people wish you would open a little bit faster. Some people are, you know, wishing it would open up a little bit slower. But overall, I think he's done a fairly reasonable job in balancing all the interests. And, you know, once we can get up and really get running again and be able to do it safely, that'll be a wonderful thing. But here's something now right along those lines that you and I were also talking about before we went on the air. And as long as we're talking about, you know, Cauvin and getting back into it, there has been a bunch of reporting over the last few weeks of a team of Canadian scientists who have been doing their own studies, independent studies, by the way, although they are affiliated with the University of Lethbridge. I'm not sure what town that's in in Canada and what their studies have showed that there are at least 13 Cannabis plants.
Larry Mishkin: [00:16:14] I believe that there are also TVA leading and high in CBD that appear to affect the pathways that the corona virus by uses to access the body. And there is a hope that by. Figuring out a way to manifest the effect of the THC that they could actually either help treat people with corona virus or maybe in some cases help prevent Corona virus. Now, I want to be very strong in emphasizing that this is not in any way, shape or form an endorsement, that marijuana will cure or stop Colvard. Just merely pointing out that there are scientists who are looking into the issue and at least have some early data results back that they believe are positive.
Jim Marty: [00:16:59] Wow, that is very interesting. It'll take some time to see if that's really proven by scientific studies and blind testing. In the meantime, it doesn't hurt to take a little dose of prevention, though, does it?
Larry Mishkin: [00:17:18] It sure does it. You know, it is a better better to air on the safe side with this one, you know, and yeah, I agree.
Larry Mishkin: [00:17:25] It's it's but it's just funny to me only because I fully expected that at some point we were going to have to see somebody doing this kind of study. Right. Somebody doing something to let us know whether there's a connection here, that there's too many things that people are discovering. The Cannabis has medical efficacy for purposes of treating. And so on the one hand, it doesn't surprise me to see this. On the other hand, it really makes me laugh because, oh, my goodness, if there's even just a little bit of truth to it. Yes, it's a wonderful thing, and it just goes to support the idea that, you know, 5000 years of human civilization can't be wrong. And we were laughing about this one, too, because part of the same story is a another story, Jim, that where they think that's a group, that's an archeologist group. And Israel believes that they found in each Jewish temple from about four or five thousand years ago that has where they found samples of Cannabis. And it looks like it was, you know, the way they found it, that it had been used and smoked by the Jewish priests of the time, perhaps to help, you know, get them into a proper mental state for the prayer services they were leading or whatever. It is the first known usage of Cannabis being tied into the Jewish religion of which I'm a member. So I find that to be very fascinating. But I love that only because I think that a lot of us, you know, kind of tend to take for granted that, yeah, we've all heard about the history of marijuana. Yes. You know what happened back in the 20s, 30s and 40s and whatever. But I think there's a real sense by a lot of people that this is, you know, kind of grew out of the the hippie world in the Summer of Love in 1968 and the Grateful Dead and all of this stuff.
Larry Mishkin: [00:19:18] But we forget marijuana's been around forever for all of recorded history. And, you know, I have to say that I kind of feel good about that.
Jim Marty: [00:19:26] Yeah, that's very interesting. So was it getting near the end? I do have a quick Chicago story that I can tell. I have a great affection for Chicago. I went there for the first time in 1979. I had just gotten out of college and I was hired by a big CPA firm. And they sent all the rookies from all over the country to Chicago in the fall of 1979 to assist in the audit of Standard Oil. So for most of the fall of 1979, I worked in the Standard Oil field and made some great friends. And we would work all day till six, seven o'clock at night. And then we'd go out and drink up our per diem and we would play football in Grant Park. That's why I'm familiar with Grant Park.
Larry Mishkin: [00:20:19] Well, that's a lot of fun. Very nice. Very nice. Well, as we get ready to lighten things up, two things, Jim, that I would like to throw out.
Larry Mishkin: [00:20:27] The first is that I have a very quick correction and apology to make your last week. At the end of the show, I threw out a get well shot out to a good friend of mine, Jake Wellins, out in California. The good news is Jake is now out of the hospital and he's going back home, which we're all happy to hear about. Jake's brother, Max, who's a recent graduate of Boulder, is going to be joining our show on the social media side and helping to promote our R footprint in social media and really get our name out there. And so I was talking with him today. And in the course of our conversation, he advised me that last week when I was talking about Jake Wellons, I somehow mentioned that he was the daughter of Andy Greenberg. And of course, Jake Wellons would be the son of Andy Greenberg. And I apologize to Jake and I apologize to Andy for that. Little missed you. But again, the good news is, is that Jake did make it out of the hospital and happy to hear about that and glad that he's heading in the right direction. The other thing, and I'm very excited to do mentioned this for all of our listeners, is that our show next week. Our guest is going to be Bob Hoban law., the Hoban law. group. And, you know, Bob is one of the early pioneers in legal Cannabis and has now positioned himself to be one of the real leaders, both on the marijuana and the Hemp side. And he's a guy with a schedule that has him on the road and tied up all the time. But he's been kind and gracious enough to give us a few minutes. So we're looking forward to having him around. Next, we can get the ask him a few questions.
Jim Marty: [00:21:51] You looking forward to that? Yeah. Bob and I go back a good 10 years here working on Cannabis clients. The other, we have many mutual clients between Bridge West and Old Hoban law.. And you have another great attorney over there. We should get on the show someday. David Bush is part of the leading Hemp attorney in the United States.
Larry Mishkin: [00:22:12] Well, thank you for saying that. We are. David is a fantastic attorney. He is.
Larry Mishkin: [00:22:16] And I can even say that he and I had had a fun experience last year trying to drive from Minneapolis to Rock Chester, Minnesota, for a Midwest Hemp expo that somebody thought would be a good idea to have in the middle of February. And in white out conditions. David bravely managed to get us there safely and in one piece. So I am forever indebted to him as well. But yes, I think he'd make a great guest and I will reach out to him.
Jim Marty: [00:22:40] Yeah. Very good. All right. Well, I think it's time to sign off. Larry, take us home.
Larry Mishkin: [00:22:47] Jim, always a pleasure to all of our listeners. Thank you for listening. We'll look forward to see you all next week. Be safe, stay healthy and enjoy the Grateful Dead with a little marijuana. Talk to you later. Bye bye.
[00:23:31]
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