In the early 1970s, Louisiana imposed a death penalty for marijuana violation. OK, it wasn’t technically a death sentence from judicial sentencing. Instead, it was open season to go after any purported pothead. Brian Wilson was a top radio host in Baton Rouge in 1971 when Elton John came to Louisiana on a concert tour. After the show, Brian, Elton, and some other folks fired out some joints. There was a knock on the door but no raid.
It’s great to hear Brian back behind the microphone after his recent string of hard challenges. And he kindly hyped my piece on my 40 Year War on Reefer Madness.
Here is Brian’s summary of the episode: “After weeks of contending with Post-Obamacare, Post-Plandemic Medical Incompetence, apathy and red tape, Brian & Jim review Jim’s groundbreaking work 40 years ago in the early days of the War on Drugs, Reagan’s “Just Say No” years and how Jim’s initial harpooning evolved into the monumental aggravation of government do-gooders! A good time was had by most! (Reagan officials notwithstanding.) Brian’s story of his May,1971 New Orleans puff-fest with Elton John, Dee Murray, and Nigel Olsen is included at no extra cost.”
You can listen to this episode by clicking here or –https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-two-and-only-brian-wilson-and-james-bovard/id1638506178?i=1000618804594
Elton John, 1971 (from Wikipedia)
Freeping drug laws! Land of the free, home of the brave, but we can’t trust anyone to choose what goes into their own bodies? America has become a nation of wimps.
The drug war has been ongoing since 1914…. Maybe the tide is turning.
Great episode! My wife and watched the movie “American Made” starring Tom Cruise as the pilot who flew for the CIA in Reagan’s Presidency. Yeah, good ol’ Barry flew the guns to the Contras and the Medellin Cartel and brought back the cocaine. He also had more cash than he knew what to do with.
It’s a good movie.
Fuck Reagan. He ended 3.2% beer for 18 year olds with that, “Make the drinking age 21 or you get no Federal Highway Funds.”
Yeah, “government off our backs.”
I liked his tax cuts, but the rest of his Presidency sucked.
And don’t forget Colonel Ollie North of the Marines who was in charge of Iran/Contra. Ollie and his sexy secretary doing coke and then banging each other like rabbits.
Oh, the 1980s were fun.
PS: I couldn’t access Brian Wilson’s website. Mr. Bovard, I had no idea that Brian was in Lousy Anna in the 1970s. In June of 1971 us hippies in Lincoln, Nebraska drove down to McRea, Lousy Anna for the “Celebration of Life Festival”. We called it the “Celebration of Death”. It was 100F without a cloud in the sky for three days with 60% humidity or more. We had to go into the dangerous and filthy Atchafalaya River four or five times a day to keep from getting heat prostration. Some hippies covered themselves in mud. We went around naked a lot.
Three days of hell on Earth it was.
Ask Brian if he was there.
Tim, I”ll check with Brian on the glitch on his website.
Don’t know if he was at the Life Festival. He has some good stories of some music concerts he guest-hosted.
Tim Mc Graw:”Ask Brian if he was there.” —
Not only was I there, I was PD for the sponsoring station 1300 WIBR, Baton Rouge which subsequently fell to the unmerciful iron fists of capitalism and the untimely arrival of suddenly popular 40 FM stations like WAFB-FM, our most local in-town competition. That’s not all. Among other Firsts, It was my first time to interview a totally naked woman, perched on a sand dune of the Atchafalaya waiting for her boyfriend with whom she rode in from Jacksonville, FL. The interview was totally voluntary until significant other arrived very displeased that the brunette hairdresser in her birthday suit was i chatting it up with a local DJ,standing in the 90 degree heat with n Electro-Voice microphone pointing at her. Fun times came to a premature end which nearly flipped the Celebration of Life into the Observation of Death. The event was billed as the first ‘answer to Woodstock This was also the first time I ‘enjoyed’ Boone’s Farm Apple wine some bootleggers were ripping off the locals for $10/bottle out of the back of a rented U-Hal. I’m sure their profits covered local LA ‘taxes’. Cat Stevens, CCR and Joe Cocker/Mad Dogs & Enlishmen were scheduled but No shows due to rumors of sex, drugs, violence and rock n roll, What else did they expect? A good time as had by most – with he possible exception of the Naked Hairdresser’s boy toy…
BTW – the website URL: www,brianwilson,net also Brian WilsonWrites https://brianwilsonwrites.substack.com/p/the-two-and-only-take-on-jim-bovards
Thanks for adding your experience. Doing a radio interview with a naked babe is almost as good as a videotaped interview. Glad you survived all those wild times!
Great to hear from you again on this blog! Hope everything is going….. as well as possible in these challenging times.
James -Always a hoot hangin’ with Bovard readers and listeners. Imagine! Tim McGraw! I have all his 8-tracks! “Where the Green Grass Grows” a personal favorite for obvious reasons! Always hoped friend Elton would cover it one day! Looking forward to our next Two and Only. I’ll bring some purloined hospital surplus cookies…
Bravo! Glad you’re no longer compelled to wear a robe that is open in all the wrong places. Alabama hospital cookies are known to be the best in the land, or at least south of Huntsville