Are you celebrating April 20th? Longtime readers of FlynnFiles know of my support for the authorities budding out of the bud trade. I will celebrate today by drinking Bud instead of smoking it. Freedom means possessing the right to choose. I may drink beer. You may smoke jazz cigarettes. We decide. Alas, the festivities aren't without sorrow. Levon Helm, drummer and vocalist for The Band, passed on yesterday. He sounded old as dirt when he sang in the seventies. So when he approached his seventies he sounded older than dirt, particularly on his album Electric Dirt. One of the standout tracks on that 2009 offering is an ode to a down-on-his-luck farmer who in desperation grows a crop raised to burn. In honor of Helm, I urge fans of The Band (and the bud) to play Growin' Trade (click here to listen) at 4:20 on 4/20.

I don't think I'd ever seen that article on legalization. It doesn't shock me though - I've always thought Peter Tosh was just looking for way to break into the Advertising business....

A bit more on Greg Ham(um...)than on Levon Helm.?