I still rate Cheech & Chong's 'Basketball Jones' as a classic track & the cartoon too, that was wild. Did you listen to George Harrison's guitar on that track? One of the loosest tastiest contributions he ever made, I reckon.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "shempmcgurk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The best thing that ever happened to Toomy Chong was the prison > sentence he got a few years back. > > It revived a dying career as he got much publicity out of being > sentenced to prison for a silly, minor offense like having a bong > pipe or some such thing. > > Only the truth is that although, technically, the minor offense is > the reason he was sentenced to prison, that isn't the real reason he > got the sentence he did. > > Apparently, no one ever spends time in prison for what Tommy was > convicted of. But Tommy was so beligerant in court and so > disrespectful of the judge that that is why the judge sentenced him > to spend time in prison...it had nothing to do with what he was > actually convicted of. > > So, obviously, Chong did it all as a publicity stunt and...it worked! > > What a phony. > > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Robert Gimbel <babajii_99@> > wrote: > > > > Tommy Chong > > The world's funniest stoner on meditation, surviving prison, and > his new book, `The I Chong' > > > > Illustration by Nathan Ota > > or Tommy Chong to get straight, he's got to go to God. Not God > as envisioned by, say, Jerry Falwell, not the God of hellfire, but > the omniscient source of goodness and, yes, jokes. He's cultivated a > meditative practice over the years of smash hit movies, Grammy- > winning comedy albums, and woozy influence over decades of pop > culture as half of the comedy duo Cheech & Chong. So when he was > busted in 2003 for selling Tommy Chong bongs and sentenced to nine > months in the federal penitentiary at Taft, California, one of the > items he brought with him was the I Ching, the ancient Chinese Book > of Changes. While in prison, he started ruminating on life's > lessons, and the result was his new book, The I Chong: Meditations > from the Joint. This book is a breezy vision of the man's > essential "Chongness," as he writes not some preachy life lessons > but about a life lived: growing up rough as the mixed-race child of > a Chinese father and a Scottish-Irish mother in Western Canada; > learning > > to tango with his wife, Shelby; and using his gentleness and wit > to thrive in lock-up. "I met the warden one day. I swear to God, > I've met fans but he was one of the biggest fans ever," says > Chong. "He says, `Are they treating you OK?' He turned out to be a > really sweet guy." Dean Kuipers > > CityBeat: Each chapter leaf in the book starts with a hexagram > from the I Ching. Tommy Chong: I went through the I Ching and just > picked out a heading that would best suit the chapter. And the I > Ching I was just doing it it's three lines on top, three lines > below. And they're either broken or straight. And it's based on an > ancient book called the Book of Changes. You throw them they used > to do it with bones, but then they evolved it to coins, and they > used to do it with yarrow stalks [a common, long-stemmed white > flower]. What you get is a good sense of how you're feeling, where > you're at in your life. > > How is this a book of meditations? I'm a writer, I just write > all the time. I hadn't planned it to be a book, I just have a > compulsion. I tried to write a Cheech & Chong book, and I've been > working on it for five years, and I just can't get it going. But > this new book was so personal that, when I started writing it, I > realized: no one knows who I am. So I started writing about who I > am, and I picked out memories from my past and then I realized, > damn, I'm almost 70 years old, so I've got a lot of memories. > > And those are meditative? Well, I'm into meditation. Actually, > Cheech turned me on to meditation. When I first met Cheech, he > followed that guru from India [Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]. Every once in > a while I'd go over to meet with Cheech, and he'd be meditating. It > wasn't 'til years and years later that I read a book by Joel > Goldsmith, The Mystical I, and he went into the depth of meditating > with your mind on God. And so when I went into prison, I thought: > well, this is the best place in the world to put meditation to work. > > What was your meditative practice in prison? I ended up being > the go-to guy with the I Ching. You have a lot of time in jail, so I > read about how they did it with the yarrow stalks, and yarrow stalks > were growing in the Indian garden at the prison. I did I Ching > readings for the prisoners and it would blow people's minds. I was > in a recreation room and I was throwing coins and doing mine and > this guy, Mike, came up to me and he asked, "What are you up to, > Chong?" And I told him, and I said, "Do you want me to do your > reading?" And he said "Sure." So I had him throw the coins, and when > he read his reading, it blew his mind so bad he just handed me the > book and he stayed the rest of the day on his bunk. I read his thing > and it said that he had just suffered a terrible accident. And he > had, like, a couple of months before, his wife and child were killed > in a car accident coming up to see him. The book nailed it. And same > with me, my first reading was, "You're in jail for a > > reason." > > Were you there for a reason?<P> Yeah, absolutely. It was to > reconnect with my spiritual self, with my job. The problem with me > is that I've got this incredible ego, but I know that I was meant to > do what I've been doing. From my earliest childhood, I knew I had > something unfinished on this planet to do. And I got too comfortable > in my life doing comedy, having a good time, collecting checks. > And jail was like a little nudge, saying, "C'mon, let's get back to > work." > > You went to prison for selling bongs, right? The official > charge was "conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia over state lines." > Supposedly, it was part of a nationwide sting, but everybody they > busted is either back in business or going back in business. > > In the book you say that this is payback for all the movies, for > laughing at cops, for Sergeant Stadanko. Yup. The Bush > administration, Karl Rove, they just figure out who's got the media > power. They mentioned that in the transcripts of the trial. They > said that I had gotten rich, made millions of dollars off making > movies about glorifying drug use and making fun of law > enforcement. Well, that's true. Yeah, totally true. But it's > also written in the Constitution that I have that right. And that > shows you the extent of this administration, what outlaws they are. > It's like the "weapons of mass destruction" reason to raid Iraq. > It's the same mindset: they have an agenda and they will do anything > to meet their goals. > > Do you view weed as kind of a sacrament? Yes, totally. It's a > gift, and it's written that He gave us the seeds and the trees for > our use. It's in, I forget which one, Genesis or something. > > Are you part of any church? No, I was never a member of any > church. Now I'm a member of an Indian sweat lodge. That's my > official church now. When we lived on a farm, the only entertainment > was Sunday school. And then I ended up teaching Sunday school when I > was really young, and then I went to bible camp when I was seven, > eight years old. And it was an incredible experience because it was > purely spiritual for me. And that's when I knew that I was somehow > connected, because it all made sense at that age; I loved the > praying, the singing, everything. That's how I got into show > business: They used to put on little plays at that camp. It was the > best two weeks of my life. And we would walk out into a field of > clover and grass and sit down, and the teacher would tell us stories > of Jesus, the beautiful stories. What really stayed with me is how > to pray. You pray for wisdom, because if you've got wisdom you don't > need nothing else. > > You mention in the book that you asked for wisdom and these > stories are what happened. Exactly. That's how everything fell > together. One of the guys, the Confucians or the Buddhists, they say > when the pupil's ready, the teacher appears. And that's what > happened to me. When I was standing there being sentenced to nine > months in jail, in my mind I heard this phrase: "Thy will be done." > When I was ready to do the book the editor appeared, the publisher > appeared. Everything appears at the right time. > > > > > > 08-10-06 > > > > > > --------------------------------- > > How low will we go? Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low PC-to-Phone > call rates. > > > To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
