a documentary film about industrial hemp and cannabis in the Pacific Northwest / Cascadia area – feature-length, made in 1996/7, produced, written and narrated by me
Uncle Weed shares an annotated version of the HempenRoad: Cascadia Journey (imdb) film featuring the 1997 commercial industrial hemp symposium in Vancouver, BC, Canada / Cascadia.
Includes clips from notable speakers, an interview with HempWorld pub/ed/writer Mari Kane along with discourse about borders, eco-systems, harm reduction, and bits of transportation and sustainability mixed in.
Eiji and Dave on the HempenRoad with 16mm camera
Then an extended montage of (lousy early generation) digital camera snaps of important entrepreneurs diligently building businesses to utilize hemp in all forms. Along with the documenting is Ms. Kane’s report from the event, with UW”s comments – including the conundrums around organizing groups and importance of diversity.
Includes loads of magazine, artifacts, ephemera, and anecdotes from California to Yap. Come along this Cascadia Journey.
Blurb: In the historic kura barn studio in provincial Japan, digging into the archive from 1996/7 documentary film “HempenRoad”, Uncle Weed shares the backstories of the project with a binder full of artifacts, reviews, plans, scripts, etc
Then plays a “producer’s cut” of a segment from Olympia, Washington featured Dennis Peron on the road promoting ground-breaking California Prop 215 at the Capitol Dome – along with diligent activists out the rain and Lt Governor candidate Bob Owen of WHEN.
Next a visit to a pioneering Internet Service Provider (OlyWa) for a peek at a (now vintage) data center with modems(!) and remarks about the importance of the (new) word wide web for disseminating information about cannabis.
Finally, riffs about how the film was produced with analog and digital tools, the importance of “showing up” and working with all parties to effectuate positive change and a personal manifesto of sorts about UW’s objectives and edicts when becoming a dedicated activist in 1990.
Questions welcome about the film – segments from Vancouver, Victoria, Portland, Eugene and more to come – as well as logistical inquiries about making creative projects.
Gist: I’m collaborating with some pals on a new Cannabis Community project – its all metavers-y and NFTs and such as and while that’s not my forte, sharing stories from rambles, campaigns, and creative riffs is (fer sure) so here’s the firestarter video to spark the project series. Links below to get in on the hi-jinks. So happy to be getting studio barn set-up with all the wires, dongles, adapters, extenders, lights and mics. Catch all the topics in the riff below and come on along!
Time to “Hit the Road” with Uncle Weed! From my historic barn studio in Japan comes an intro video – crafted via telegraph, typewriter and mimeograph －riffing about cannabis-inspired travel from Palau to Jamaica, Nepal to Cascadia… + previews of the HempenRoad, amplification of activists, writers, artists and culture everywhere.
Overall, a preview of what’s to come to the Cannaverse from my archive including Campfire Conversations, Hero Dossiers and Open Studio. Settle in, hang out and importantly, participate by sharing where you wanna go, what’s inspiring you, how we can effectuate positive change in the world.
I’m collaborating with some pals on a new Cannabis Community project – its all metavers-y and NFTs and such as and while that’s not my forte, sharing stories from rambles, campaigns, and creative riffs is (fer sure) so here’s the firestarter video to spark the project series. Links below to get in on the hi-jinks. So happy to be getting studio barn set-up with all the wires, dongles, adapters, extenders, lights and mics. Catch all the topics in the riff below and come on along!
Blurb: From an eclectically-decorated historic barn studio in provincial Japan, Uncle Weed gives a rapid intro about schemes and plans for various Cannaverse Club series starting by checking down a list of travels from Palau to Jamaica, Nepal to Cascadia, plus annotations about Amsterdam – and previewing the HempenRoad doc film.
Further, shares an overview of credentials; ergo, publications in a batch of cannabis magazines, hemp books, and all sorts of ancillary media, events… Plus sneaks in a few hitchhiking signs, hot springs snapshots, and hints about pioneering biznesses.
Also riffs about what it means to be a “cannabis creative” and shares affection for making scrapbooks, postcards and storyboards, then onto “upgrading your hero file” by learning about artists, writers, musicians, and activists who sparked positive change in their communities and the world beyond.
Finally, an invitation to participate by suggesting ideas, sharing inspirations, pitching adventures, and charitable endeavors.
So I have several typewriters but the one I pulled down for the video has a bit of a problem where the carriage doesn’t go all the way right so, while I was typing in the video, it was only “sort of typing“.
Here’s the artifact and you can see there was some stuff typed the other day when I did a test shoot and then typing on top of the typing and then scribbling and then stamping. And finally a snapshot :)
A promotional postcard for the HempenRoad film project Made while we were still in production, printed on 100% hemp cardstock paper (from Ecosource in Victoria ,BC) and mailed all over to wrangle up support and excitement about the project.
HempenRoad: promo postcard, 1996
Note: the toll-free 888-UNC-WEED phone number and the Olywa.net/Uncleweed web address (before there was a domain).
The card itself was laid out from various mixed-media elements (including Eiji (rip) and I snapped by Ben Livingston i think) using an early version of Photoshop on a pirate mission at a Kinko’s (prob with Pete Word).
There is another glorious postcard and duplex paper made after the film was released which eventually (hopefully) will turn up (and possibly a higher-res scan of this one).
Also: recently resurrected the film as ” chapters” + made an IMDb page and surfacing artefacts as I find them… including poster art and other items – and there are production journals for your perusal to meet pioneers and unique products.
This segment of Hempen Road documentary is a bit different so calling a “bonus” clip… rather than interviews with hemp cannabis pioneers, activists, entrepreneurs etc, this one features my rather poetic (according to HempWorld magazine’s review) soliloquies about broken promises to land, societies and neglect of culture along with Eiji’s stellar mixed-media cinematography and montage editing as we worked our way up and around the glorious Olympic peninsula with a stop to gaze at the albatross of Satsop nuclear chimneys, struggling and damaged reservation land.
Then comes a stop in scenic and absurdly charming Victorian-era port town appropriately called Port Townsend (as this was as far as sailing ships could make it before steam power came along and made the the place irrelevant for decades – now its bustling, then was perfect…) for a look around.
Note: we filmed a segment with PT Hemp Co (you’ll notice their 2nd floor store in the clip) but wasn’t able to use and now the footage is “lost” in a shoebox somewhere due to Eiji’s untimely demise.
Then, head off towards Vancouver via various ferries for the “big finish” of the filming and film with 16mm B&W footage of seagulls winging through the air. Sigh.
Another note: music in this clip are both faves as well. The spacey “Ry Cooder-esque” one is “Desert in my Toenails” (or something like that) by Chris Sullivan who i knew in Utah, he was from Kentucky, played all sorts of instruments, left our band to catch crabs in Alaska and still rambles with various bands and places. The outro song is Chris Jacobsen who i knew in Guam, a Rhode Islander boat cap’n with a zany sense of humour but an air of melancholy around him. I’ve tried to track him down to no avail. Notably, both of these were captured from cassette tapes, recorded on 4 tracks (still have the originals i think).
Hemp cannabis pioneer entrepreneurs in Seattle, Washington, USA are featured in this chapter of 1996/7 documentary film in which host/producer Dave Olson (hello) visits with interesting characters including:
David Edwards, Earthgoods
S. David Stunda, Earthgoods
Rob Jungman, Manastash
Khamphy S., Panther Manufacturing
Tom Cluck, Belltown Hempery
Jill Etherington, Belltown Hempery
Kristina Lynch, Belltown Hempery
Fred Martin, Belltown Hempery
along with scenes of a snowboard “big air” contest and Seattle landmarks including the now-demolished Kingdome, Pike Street Market, Showbox theatre, Lusty Lady and Hammering Man.
Hemp cannabis pioneers and activist in Olympia, WA, USA (ala OlyWa) are featured in this chapter of 1996/7 documentary film in which host/producer Dave Olson (hello) visits with interesting characters including:
Bob Owen, Wa Hemp Education Network (and Lt. Governor candidate)
Dennis Peron, Prop 215 (California) activist etc
OlyWa.net: Chas Lance Tomala, Jay Unabonger Stewart, Scott(y) Orr
Hemp cannabis pioneer entrepreneurs in Victoria, Canada are featured in this chapter of 1996/7 documentary film in which host/producer Dave Olson (hello) visits with interesting characters including:
Hemp cannabis pioneering entrepreneurs and activists n Eugene, Oregon are featured in this chapter of 1996/7 documentary film in which host/producer Dave Olson (hello) visits with interesting characters including:
