Pikes Peak
Great news for us Colorado Willie Nelson fans!
The World Events Center in Colorado Springs announced that Willie Nelson and Family, along with son Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real will perform there on Monday, April 19, 2010.
For ticket information: http://www.worldarena.com/
Stump, a pioneering-freestyle-skier-turned-ski-filmmaker, set a new standard in ski films in the late ‘80s, and now he’s circling back with his latest project, aptly titled “Legend of Aahhh’s,” which will premier this fall.
Stump has been working on this latest film for two years, he said.
“’Legend of Aahhhs’ is an intense project,” Stump said. “It circles around how ‘Blizzard’ changed so many things.”
Though “Blizzard of Aahh’s” is the film that really put Stump on the map, it wasn’t his first foray into crazy ski films. “I was making ski movies for seven years before I hit my stride with ‘Blizzard,’” he said.
But Stump does more than make ski movies. He’s produced, filmed and directed hundreds of commercials and music videos for national and international clients including Swatch Watch, Coors, Adidas, Salomon, Wrigley’s, United Airlines, and, in 2000, a Disney Super Bowl commercial starring skateboard legend Tony Hawk.
His musician subjects include some heavy hitters as well — Willie Nelson, Seal, Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard, Neil Young, Los Lonely Boys, Dinosaur Jr. and The Beach Boys.
But it’s that first one, Willie Nelson, that sticks out to Stump, even though he wasn’t a fan of the musician before he filmed a show Nelson put on in Maui.
“I never met him that night. We were flies on the wall and he barely knew a camera crew was there. But oh my God, I thought, this guy is a master poet. I get it now.”
Though he wasn’t being paid for the film, and Nelson hadn’t even given the project his blessing, he spent six months editing the footage and finally got the chance to show it to Nelson.
“I’m sweating bullets, just as nervous as can be,” Stump said. “I’m hung over, dripping sweat. Willy is sitting behind me and my friends are standing by the door. Shaking, I turn this thing on. This opening I made played and Willie Nelson leans over and says, ‘Can you stop that?’
“I’m going ‘Oh man, he’s not even going to see it’ but then he said to me, ‘That opening you just put in there, that’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.”
To this day, he and Nelson remain friends and Stump says he’ll likely be filming Nelson’s son in the near future.
“Lukas (Nelson), who I got to know when he was a little kid, is now 21 and he’s playing guitar like Jimmy Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan rolled into one and singing like his dad and Bob Dylan. He opened for B.B. King, Blues Traveler and Dave Matthews Band. And not just because he’s Willie’s son. He’s killing it on stage.”
Read the entire article at:
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20100210/AE/100219964/1078&ParentProfile=1062
http://www.biddingforgood.com/auction/item/Item.action?id=103101009
The Vail Valley Partnership’s Seventh Annual Success Awards Gala is set for February 5th, 2010, at Manor Vail. Besides honoring the businesses of the year in several categories, the event is also a fund-raiser, with and auction and part of the proceeds going toward the group’s “Non-Profit of the Year,” the Vail chapter of the Salvation Army.
Cynthia Davis, left, and Jessica Diggs are seeking approval for the Peak to Peak Cannabis Festival, which would be held in Nederland in July.
Photo by: Marty Caivano
www.dailycamera.com
by: Heath Urie
A Boulder County mountain town known for its laid-back, hippie vibe and quirky events is putting itself on the map once again, this time with separate proposals from residents to legalize all marijuana and to host a two-day festival promoting the drug’s medicinal uses.
Nederland resident and former town Trustee Michael “Michigan Mike” Torpie said Monday that he has gathered enough signatures to put a measure on the ballot for the town’s April 6 election asking voters to essentially legalize marijuana.
The question, which Torpie said was certified Thursday, will ask voters to legalize the possession, distribution, consumption, cultivation and transportation of marijuana or any of its derivatives — such as the hashish concentrate — along with possession and use of marijuana paraphernalia for anyone 21 or older.
The town clerk was out of town Monday and unavailable to confirm that the measure is finalized.
Torpie said he was inspired to work toward a ballot question after voters in Breckenridge overwhelmingly agreed in November to legalize the adult possession of up to 1 ounce of marijuana.
“I heard after the fact that Breckenridge had legalized marijuana,” said Torpie, 41. “I said, ‘Wow, you could just do that?’ We should have done it first.”
Torpie, who needed to gather the support of at least 65 of Nederland’s 1,283 registered voters to have the question appear on the ballot, said he’s supporting the movement to promote civil liberties.
“I am about free choice of people,” he said. “Adults should be able to do what they want. We shouldn’t have the government saying what we can and can’t do.”
Willie Nelson, with wife Connie and daughters Amy and Paula Carlene, in Colorado.
Look Magazine
April 1989
In the old days in Austin, you could catch Willie Nelson just about every afternoon at his daddy’s pool hall, sinking a few balls and dodging the blistering Texas sun. In the evenings, when the heat dropped below the boiling point, he’d climb into his battered station wagon and head for the honkytonks, where he’s play all night — as long as there was somebody there to listen.
People are still listening, but the crowds have spilled out of Texas to become something of a national Willie Nelson cult. “I never expected it to get this big,” Willie says. “I knew I’d be successful, but I never expected this.”
His success keeps growing. Willie has just finished acting in his first movie, Electric Horseman, with Jane Fonda and his close friend Robert Redford. And Universal has just accepted the script for a film based on Willie’s platinum album, ‘Red Headed Stranger’.
“I met Bob Redford at Billy Sherrill’s house in Nashville, where he was trying to get some country singers to do a benefit for his Citizens’ Action Committee, as I think he calls it. That was the first time I met Redford, anyway, and he and I hit it off pretty good,” says Willie. “So we flew out to California together, and Redford asked if I’d like to get in the movies. I said sure, I thought I could probably do it. OF course, I didn’t know what was involved, either.”
In Electric Horseman, Willie plays the part of Redford’s manager, an old rodeo buddy who hangs around to make sure he doesn’t get too drunk. It wasn’t a hard part.” In fact, Willie says, it was almost easier than being onstage in front of an audience, “except, instead of memorizing songs, you’re memorizing lines, and the songs are usually longer.”
Yet a third movie, tentatively titled Honeysuckle Rose, is scheduled to begin shooting this June in Texas with Sidney Pollack producing and Willie as the star. The million-selling Stardust album, which features Willie singing his favorite songs, including “Georgia On My Mind” and “Blue Skies” (and which record-company insiders figured was simply a waste of everybody’s time), is still selling. And then there are his concerts at the White House, where Rosalyn and Jimmy Carter are numbered among his biggest fans. ”
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/12/14/colorado.medical.marijuana/index.html
Denver, Colorado (CNN) — Driving down Broadway, it’s easy to forget you are in the United States. Amid the antique stores, bars and fast-food joints occupying nearly every block are some of Denver’s newest businesses: medical marijuana dispensaries.
The locals call this thoroughfare “Broadsterdam.” As in Amsterdam, Netherlands, these businesses openly advertise their wares, often with signs depicting large green marijuana leaves.
“The American capitalist system is working,” said attorney and medical marijuana advocate Rob Corry.
It’s a matter of supply and demand.
“The demand has always been there,” he said, “and the demand is growing daily because more doctors are willing to do this, and now businesses, entrepreneurs, mom-and-pop shops are cropping up to create a supply.”
Colorado voters legalized medical marijuana in 2000. For years, patients could get small amounts from “caregivers,” the term for growers and dispensers who could each supply only five patients. In 2007, a court lifted that limit and business boomed.
Between 2000 and 2008, the state issued about 2,000 medical marijuana cards to patients. That number has grown to more than 60,000 in the last year.
State Sen. Chris Romer, a Democrat whose south Denver district includes Broadsterdam, said the state receives more than 900 applications a day.
“It’s growing so fast, it’s like the old Wild West,” Romer said. “This reminds me of 1899 in Cripple Creek, Colorado, when somebody struck gold. Every 49er in the country is making it for Denver to open a medical marijuana dispensary.”
They’re calling it the Green Rush. Corry, who has represented defendants in medical marijuana cases for years, is taking a different role: He has formed the Colorado Wellness Association, a trade group representing medical marijuana growers and providers.
“We want to be the Better Business Bureau of marijuana,” he said.
On the 28th floor of a downtown building with a great view of the Rocky Mountains, Corry’s office is adorned with vintage posters. One reads “Marihuana: Assassin of Youth!” (more…)
Amendment 20
As of July 31, 2009: Statistics of the registry include:
– 13,102 new patient applications have been received to date since the registry began operating in June 2001
– Twenty-nine applications have been denied
– 18 cards have been revoked
– 210 patients have died
– ** There are currently over 15,000 certified patients in the state of Colorado as of November 12, 2009
– 1,751 cards have expired, bringing the total number of patients who currently possess valid Registry ID cards to 11,094.
In 2000, Colorado citizens voted in favor of Amendment 20, which would allow Colorado citizens suffering from debilitating health conditions to buy, possess or grow medicinal marijuana. Medical conditions include cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, cachexia, severe pain, severe nausea, seizures characteristic of epilepsy, muscle spasms, multiple sclerosis, and other medical conditions approved by the state health agency.
You may read about the complete law here: http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/hs/Medicalmarijuana/mjamendment.html
The law allows a patient to possess up to 2 ounces of marijuana and to grow up to 6 plants (3 in the vegetative state, 3 in the flowering phase). The law exempts patients from any civil or criminal penalties.
It is against Federal law to be in possession of marijuana, but the new unwritten laws in regards to medical marijuana stated by President Obama states that the Federal government will not arrest and prosecute those who are engaged within the law in a state that has medical marijuana programs.
There have been recent landmark rulings that have occurred in the state of Colorado over the past year and many more rules and regulations to come. It is important to know the current law at all times to stay within the perimeters of the law.
How to get certified:
http://denverchronicle.blogspot.com/2009/11/beginners-guide-to-mmj-in-colorado.html
www.DenverPost.com
by Candace Horgan
Willie Nelson spoke to the musically faithful at Red Rocks last week during the Democratic National Convention.
Some performers reach a point in their careers when they cease to be musicians and instead become icons. The shows are events, more about seeing the performer, while the music is secondary, if it matters at all. Such is the case with Willie Nelson, who played at Red Rocks on Aug. 26.
Nelson didn’t go on till after 10:00 p.m., keeping the crowd waiting for nearly an hour after the end of Jerry Jeff Walker’s set. While Hillary Clinton gave her speech at the Pepsi Center for the Democratic National Convention, the crowd at Red Rocks was apolitical. Aside from a few Obama T-shirts and a First Aid for Willie Nelson bandana that sported a hemp leaf, there was nary a whisper of politics. Indeed, the crowd seemed far more red state than purple or blue.
Willie Nelson and Family, Red Rocks Amphitheater, Colorado
www.summitdaily.com
by Robert Allen
BRECKENRIDGE — Breckenridge residents voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana and paraphernalia under town law. Unofficial results show 71 percent of voters approved the initiative.
“We’re done with the days people could laugh off marijuana reform,” said Sean McAllister, Breckenridge attorney and chair of reform group Sensible Breckenridge. “I believe the implicit implications are that we should have a dialogue about taxing marijuana.”
Tuesday’s vote means that effective Jan. 1, people 21 and up in Breckenridge will be able to legally possess one ounce or less of the drug. Possession remains illegal under state law, but Breckenridge Police Chief Rick Holman said his department will “still have the ability to exercise discretion.”
“It’s never been something that we’ve spent a lot of time on, so I don’t expect this to be a big change in how we really do business,” he said.
Currently, the petty, non-jailable offense under town code carries a maximum $100 fine. In 2008, Breckenridge Police Department ticketed 10 people under the town marijuana possession law, according to BPD ticket statistics.
For drug paraphernalia — which carries the same penalty — four were ticketed in 2008.
Under the state law, BPD issued three tickets for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana. Holman said that after Jan. 1, issuance of tickets under state law will “vary dependent on the situation.”
“We’ll still have tools at our disposal,” he said.
Breckenridge Councilman Jeffrey Bergeron, who supported the measure, said Tuesday’s vote will give the police more time to focus on higher priorities.
“I’m not really surprised,” Bergeron said of the results. “I just think people recognize this isn’t going to be a life-altering change in how people in Breckenridge live.”
The decriminalization won’t change laws prohibiting smoking in public, use by minors or driving under the influence.
In 2006, 72 percent of Breckenridge voters supported the unsuccessful Amendment 44, which had language similar to the town initiative but applied to the entire state.
Brian Vicente of Sensible Colorado — the statewide nonprofit that assisted the local effort — said Tuesday’s results show Breckenridge is leading the country in sensible drug reform.
“We hoped for the best but planned like we needed every single vote,” he said.
McAllister said the result was “very satisfying” and he was impressed with the high turnout of young people.
“Democracy is best when everybody participates,” he said, adding that several Republican voters expressed support during the campaign. “I’m very appreciative of the conservative vote we got.”
“As long as someone isn’t hurting someone else, they should be left alone,” McAllister said.
In 2005, Denver became the first major city to decriminalize possession of less than an ounce of marijuana after voters approved legislation similar to that in Breckenridge.
And like many other towns in the state, Breckenridge could soon be home to a medical marijuana dispensary. The town passed a set of regulations for such businesses in October, and the dispensaries already exist in Frisco and Silverthorne.
Holman said that while his department may still ticket people for possessing marijuana, people who want to smoke it legally can obtain a state-issued medical marijuana card without much difficulty.
Breckenridge, CO:
Voters will decide on Tuesday whether to approve a municipal initiative to eliminate penalties on the adult possession of cannabis. If approved, Measure 2F would amend the town code to remove all criminal and civil penalties, including fines, on the private possession of up to one ounce of marijuana. Passage of the initiative would also eliminate local penalties prohibiting the possession of cannabis paraphernalia by those age 21 or older.
Proponents of the measure, Sensible Breckenridge, gathered 1,400 signatures from registered voters to place the measure on the municipal ballot. In 2006, over 70 percent of Breckenridge voters endorsed Amendment 44, an unsuccessful statewide ballot initiative that sought to eliminate minor marijuana possession penalties.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500 or visit: http://www.sensiblecolorado.org.
McCall’s
May 1988
by Teresa Taylor Von-Frederick
When he’s not performing on the road to sell-out crowds, there are only two places you might look for Willie Nelson — and hope to find him. One is in the Colorado mountains, resting and recuperating from hard travel, in the romantic three-story Swiss chalet he owns there; the other is a 775 acre ranch outside Austin, Texas, where I visited him recently.
Here, Willie is surrounded by the rivers, hills and the down-home country folk of his childhood, very close to the place where his ma and pa, along with his grandparents, raised him. It’s where he feels most at home in the world, consequently, where he’s most himself No wonder friends like Kris Kristofferson and his longtime producer, Chips Moman, enjoy visiting the ranch, sometimes for weeks at a time.
“There’s another house, too,” Willie tells me. He loves houses, perhaps because he travels so much. “It’s less than a block from the place where I was born. In fact, we’re restoring it — an old house on the edge of town.”
A gentle light shimmers in his eyes as Nelson remembers his grandfather. “He died when I was six years old. He was a blacksmith near Abbott, Texas. It was my grandfather who bought me my first Stella guitar when I was five. I learned how to play dominoes and guitar early — that was what we used to do.”
Born Willie Hugh Nelson on April 30, 1933, in Abbott, Willie has one sibling, an older sister, Bobbie Lee. “Bobbie and I started out together. Then she got married, had children, and now we’re back playing music again. She plays piano in the band.” He recalls tenderly those “good ol’ days” when he was trying to make a living in the rough-and-tumble clubs around Fort Worth, Texas, first with Bobbie and later by himself. Times were pretty hard then, and he credits his five children and his current wife, Connie Jean Koepke (whom he met in 1968 at a show in Cut ‘n Shoot, Texas), with sticking by him and encouraging his dream of someday making music that people would want to hear.
But his grandparents, Willie says, were his true, and earliest, inspiration. They themselves learned music through mail-order courses, and, when he was very young, they deeply involved grandchild Willie in church and gospel music. They also gave him a lsting feeling for the church itself.
We hike up into the hills were a church stands on one of his acres. (It appeared as a post-Civil War set in his film Red Headed Stranger.) Lana, his oldest daughter, who’s 33, comes with us. Willie grabs the tattered hemp rope hanging from the belfry, and we hear the sound of bells clattering. “Whenever we can, my children and grandchildren (he has seven) have church up here. It’s a nice feelin’, havin’ your own church on your own property. I try to instill sound values in my children as much as possible. None of them are interested in becoming entertainers. My son — we call him Wild Bill, although sometimes he’s Mild Bill — goes through changes, but he’s gettin’ better. He’s thirty years old, lives in Tennessee with his wife and children, and just started farmin’ his own land.”
“That’s one thing Daddy instilled in us,” Lana interjects. “His spirituality and love and God and human nature. Daddy always taught us to have good relationships with people.”
Lana, the first child born to Willie and his first wife, Martha Matthews, speaks of her parents with great feeling. “Daddy was seventeen and my mama was sixteen when they met; she was a car hop serving food at a restaurant. Daddy is still very close to her, but they were so young! I was four years old when my daddy wrote a song called Family Bible. He sold it for fifty dollars to pay for rent and food, and I cried and cried because I thought he just gave it away. He grabbed me by the hand on the front porch and said, ‘Look out there, honey. One of these days I’m gonna buy you that land as far as you can see.’ I knew my daddy would be a star.”
Lana has directed and produced Willie’s music videos, including the very first country-and-western video, Poncho and Lefty, which was nominated for an American Video Award. Today, she still works with her father. “I know his values and what kind of story he likes to tell. I also inherited his sense of humor.”
Willie and Connie Nelson
Besides Lana and Billy, Willie has another child, Susie, from his first marriage. He and Connie, who have been married for 17 years, also have two daughters, Paula Carlene and Amy Lee. Connie has stayed by his side through all of his struggles and, finally, his success. “Willie and I try to spend as much quiet time as possible away from everything,” Connie says. “We like to go to the movies. Willie likes to ride horses, and I like to ski. I spend a lot of time in California with our daughters when he’s off performing.”
Willie leans into a char and relaxes by the fireplace. “Yeah, I enjoy my horses and playing golf,” he concedes., “but I love my music just as much. Honestly, I have all these guys who are my heroes. … But when I was struggling, it didn’t matter if there was only one person in the audience. That was enough for me to get inspired. I’m still starstruck.”
A while ago, in Illinois, with some of his heroes — Neil Young, Merle Haggard, John Couger Mellencamp — Willie put together a musical cast that included B. B. King, Bob Dylan, Glenn Campbell, Carole King, Billy Joel, George Jones — a stupendous concert to raise money for America’s financially stricken farmers. Farm Aid became a cultural and historic high point of the ’80s. Since that first concert Willie helped to sponsor, 14 million dollars have been raised in this nation for farm relief.
“I was brought up on a farm and know a lot about agricultural and farming,” he reveals. “It’s darn hard work; I couldn’t do it. But it keeps families together on the farm. A lot of them who are suffering now don’t have money for their children or for medical emergencies. There’s hope out there, though. All kinds of folks are helping us all across the country, Jody Fischer, my assistant works loyally on behalf of Farm Aid. That’s what life is all about; helping each other, if we can.”
Willie identifies strongly with the poor. Graciously and proudly, he welcomes those who are troubled in his Texas home — built in a rustic, Ponderosa style reminiscent of a land baron’s mansion of the 1980s. The interior sports a Western motif complete with shelves of Indian arrowheads and a buffalo skin draped over a beam. His simple futon bed lies on the floor in front of a huge fireplace. Willie hops onto it, assuming his favorite yoga position.
“This is the best form of meditation for me,” he explains.” “Sometimes a song or an idea will come, and I just write it. I enjoy meditating when I jog and play golf, too. I’d rather be workin’ than not. And we can cut ten sides of a record here in one day. It’s been a real help, havin’ the recording studio on my property.”
Memories of his difficult early years appear in his conversation. It was nearly 30 years ago, in 1961, that he made the trek to Nashville in a second hand car. His struggle in the musical world had already gone on for more than a decade; he had attempted to become a party-time hog farmer… and failed at it. “I was the worst hog farmer you ever saw,” Willie says, laughing. But by 1985 he was able to release four albums within a single year: Funny How Time Slips Away (with Faron Young); Highwayman (with Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings); Half Nelson, Brand New Heart (with Hank Snow) and Me and Paul (written for and about his friend Paul English) In 1986, The Promiseland was Willie’s strongest LP in years. And no sentimentalist can ever forget Willie’s Crazy, recorded by Patsy Cline. (His newest album, Island in the Sun was released earlier this year.)
Of all contemporary songwriters, he has most effectively observed and interpreted the life around him. “The master of sadness, the poet of honky-tonks,” he has been called. His songs elucidate his highest priorities: love, God, prayer, staying close to his kin.
Willie Nelson and Lana Nelson, at Lana’s wedding.
Lana testifies to that. “I produced a family album that included all of the significant events in my daddy’s life and some of his song lyrics and family photo. I gave it to him for his forty-seventh birthday. Boy, was he happy! He grinned from here to Nashville.”
In the kitchen, Willie messes around with his restaurant-size stove. “You bet I can cook,” he replies, in answer to my question. “I love to make all kinds of gravies. And I can eat bacon and eggs any time of the day or night.” He grabs a soda from the fridge, sit down, takes off his tennis shoes and puts on a pair of cowboy boots. “How would you like to go up and see my horses now?” he asks.
We walk out the back door that gives him his favorite view of two lakes that come together and travel yet another third of a mile up to his barn. His two horses, Scout, a large palomino, and Dancer, a sorrell horse with a blazed forehead, timidly run for cover in the barn when we approach. But as soon as Willie brings out some feed, Scout comes over. Willie lumps in the hay and sits there feeding Scout, as if he were sitting next to his best friend. “I rid every day when I’m home,” he tells me. “I have a lot more horses on the property, but they’re all off somewhere now.”
The sun begins to set, the landscape shaded by tall plains grass, mesquite and scrub oak trees. I feel as peaceful and calm as Willie, a man who like to take life one day at a time when he’s home. His friend and colleague, Chips Moman, has joined us for the evening. “I’d do anything for that man and so would a lot of other people,” Chips says. “There seems to be nothing he can’t do to please everyone. And he thrives on the excitement of the road. He’s performed with the best: Frank Sinatra, Dolly Parton, Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt. He’s now with CBS Records. We’re a long way form 1964 when he first signed with Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. But he became fed up with the politics of becoming a star there. He moved to Texas and He’s een there ever since.”
We climb into his black truck, and he invites us back to visit some more with his family. After strong coffee and with nighttime creeping up, I take my leave reluctantly. He thanks me generously for coming down to visit, and I drive off down the wonderful, winding dirt road that’s as serene as the Texas sunset, as serene as Willie Nelson himself.
