Tag Archives: hempenroad

CannaClub Storytime, HempenRoad

“HempenRoad: Activism in OlyWa” Uncle Weed Storytime for Cannaverse Club

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!

Join in the hijinks at the #uncle-weed-storytime on the Cannaverse Club discord server and/or https://Cannaverseclub.com & Cannaverse Club Youtube

#AlwaysBeKind

Personal Musings

Diary: Sea Legs Under Me (making videos and audios)

Yup, accidentally a fisher-person with “made in Greece” fisher’s cap and a fishing vest (gift from Cmdr Bob) perhaps foreshowing a future hobby :) oh that’s the wood stove behind me, now with safety fence – its so great!

+ finding stride, making things and preparing for others +

Yeah, don’t know, maybe you noticed but im making a lot of audio/video recently, and semi-importantly – trying to step-up my technical production standards. It’s not really my forté. Requires lots of adapters, extenders, dongles and testing… I just like to do the part where I tell stories.

First, a snappy yet functional outfit to fit the autumn rain (rare here in our area), a bite to eat, another coffee, half an hour of paperwork (during which I try to ignore all the emails I haven’t replied to and resist the urge to edit another video clip I have on standby about a few new books I received my post), and go sort-ganize to get ready for another shoot tomorrow.

This next dispatch introduces and shares some artifacts from my 1996/7 documentary film about hemp in all it’s forms. specifically the segment from Olympia WA’s capital dome in the midst of California’s groundbreaking proposition 215.

setting up all the lights, mics, cords and tripods etc isn’t my fave part of the project but i’m sorta figuring it out – since this photo, put “sof boxes” over the lights and really relying on a couple of iPads and lightning lav mic as the Canon DSLR with fancy mic isn’t getting along with my flow so far

Will set up the clip in studio, roll the film clip, and come back with a few pieces of ephemera, catch ups about some of the faces you’ll see & foreshadow the following week’s live Q&A chat with hopefully a special guest or two if I can figure out some technology. Ugh.

I’m at the hospital for most of the day on Thursday which means Friday is going to be a rest and recovery day.

fondly, dvo

PS have you watched my recent videos/listen to recent audio? No big deal, just think you might enjoy.

https://videopress.com/v/KL9XN7zj?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata
Here’s me messing around setting up the studio – with all sorts of cords, dongles, tripods, lights and mics – in prep for an Uncle Weed Storytime shoot.
CannaClub Storytime, HempenRoad

“Hit the Road” – Uncle Weed Storytime intro (for Cannavervse Community)

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.

Join in the hijinks at the #uncle-weed-storytime on the Cannaverse Club discord server and/or https://Cannaverseclub.com

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 :)
Community Feasthouse

Pod Riffs on “Story in Mind” w/ Moss Whelan

+ Let’s go for a walk and talk with a Story in Mind +

Hey whatta fun conversation! Riffing about creative projects from 1970s to current days and how all the threads connect together in the most unexpected ways. I.e.: fanzines, chapbooks, paintings, mustaches, Ayurveda, Dead tour, grain barns of mystery, goat farms, hemp #theusual

From Moss Whelan / writer, papermaker, renegade & podmaker:
“Back in the swing—talking with {Dave Olson} about writing, art, and health”

Note: Listen above in browser or via Anchor, Apple Pod, Spotify… Continue reading Pod Riffs on “Story in Mind” w/ Moss Whelan →

HempenRoad, Lists + Awards + Profiles

Media: Propriety and Prohibition (HempenRoad) / Axis Magazine, Seattle/Oly, June 1998

Media: Propriety and Prohibition (HempenRoad) / Axis, Seattle/Oly, June 1998 / cover
Media: Propriety and Prohibition (HempenRoad) / Axis, Seattle/Oly, June 1998 / interview

Continue reading Media: Propriety and Prohibition (HempenRoad) / Axis Magazine, Seattle/Oly, June 1998 →

Portraits of the Artiste

#daveo50 ~ 1997 / 50 years > days > photos

Image

#daveo50 ~ 1997 / filming HempenRoad near Satsop nuclear facility, WA State with Eiji Masuda (rip)

Project: Upon turning 50 years old on August 16, 2020, Dave Olson (me, hello) is posting a photo (or maybe photos) a day / per year – starting with 1970 with intent of chronicling existence through various primary evidence sourced from studio portraits, class photos, ID / passport photos, or occasionally other “casual/group/random” shots when the above don’t exist in my archive (note: not “artificial intelligence,” really me, pulled from shoeboxes, journals, wallets and whatnot – diligently scanned and dated via glasses and haircuts, lightly annotated).

Continue reading #daveo50 ~ 1997 / 50 years > days > photos →

HempenRoad

HempenRoad / promo postcard, 1996-7

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HempenRoad: promo postcard, 1996

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.

HempenRoad

HempenRoad / chapter 6: Olympic Peninsula / Port Townsend (bonus)

Video

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). 

+++

Artifacts, Background, Technical notes at:

* Daveostory – https://daveostory.com/category/film-vids-docs/hempenroad-documentary/

* IMdb – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9839016/

View full-length documentary at:

+++

  • Filmed 1996
  • Released 1997
  • Digitized 2007
  • Chapter Edit 2020

thanks for Pete Word and Bread Rees for various archiving assists

+++

Additional chapters include:

  • Victoria, BC, Canada
  • Olympia, WA, USA
  • Eugene, OR, USA
  • Portland, OR, USA
  • Seattle, WA, USA
  • Vancouver, BC, Canada

with entrepreneurs, activists, scientists, farmers, pioneers etc.

+++

With Special Dedication To:

  • Misa and Naoyo
  • Robert Lunday (rip)
  • Eiji Masuda (rip)

Fondly, daveo / Okayama, Japan, April 2020

HempenRoad

HempenRoad / chapter 5: Seattle (1996/7)

Video

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.

+++

Artifacts, Background, Technical notes at:

* Daveostory – https://daveostory.com/category/film-vids-docs/hempenroad-documentary/

* IMdb – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9839016/

View full-length documentary at:

  • Youtube – https://youtu.be/-zph6xDAc-g
  • Vimeo – https://vimeo.com/122077349
  • Reelhouse – https://www.reelhouse.org/uncleweed/hempenroad/

+++

  • Filmed 1996
  • Released 1997
  • Digitized 2007
  • Chapter Edit 2020

thanks for Pete Word and Bread Rees for various archiving assists

+++

Additional chapters include:

  • Victoria, BC, Canada
  • Olympia, WA, USA
  • Eugene, OR, USA
  • Portland, OR, USA
  • Olympic Peninsula, WA, USA
  • Vancouver, BC, Canada

with entrepreneurs, activists, scientists, farmers, pioneers etc.

+++

With Special Dedication To:

  • Ralph Seeley, esq (rip)
  • Robert Lunday (rip)
  • Eiji Masuda (rip)

Fondly, daveo / Okayama, Japan, March 2020

HempenRoad

HempenRoad / chapter 4: Olympia (1996/7)

Video

Hempen Road / chapter 4: Olympia (1996/7)

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
  • And many Washington State activists in action

Continue reading HempenRoad / chapter 4: Olympia (1996/7) →