My friend, a qualified engineer, posted the results of his blind listening test between a Mackie SRM450 and QSC K-12, EAW KF300, Martin XD12 and Martin W8VDQ loudspeakers. Claiming that there were no crossovers, processors or equalizers used in the test, he said that unanimously each engineer involved chose the Mackie as the best sounding speaker. They had to be high!
I mean, first of all, each powered speaker has an internal crossover and thus internal EQ. To compare them to speakers such as the EAW 300 or the Martin W8VDQ — which, without the processing, is nothing but drivers and woofers — is just plain silly. They had to be high! To actually hear the Mackie as the best speaker can only lead me to believe that they may have upped the dosage of their medication before the blind listening test.
A Little History
There is a great debate going on at this moment regarding the inherent value of marijuana as a valid medicine and, believe it or not, this is a debate in our country that goes back as far as the early 1600’s, when King James decreed that every colonist in Virginia should grow 100 hemp plants to be used for export. Of course, this hemp was commissioned for the making of rope and other fabrics and most likely not grown as a pharmaceutical, but since there were no Cineplexes or television programs to beguile the hardworking colonists, other distractions were soon discovered. In 1839, William Brooke O’Shaughnessy, an Irish physician who had worked as a physician in Calcutta, published his first of many papers that documented the theraputic use of cannabis for successfully relieving the pain of rheumatism and the convulsions caused by tetanus and rabies. He discovered that, as a medicine, the cannabis indica did not cure the tetanus or rabies, but that it did relieve the associated symptoms. By the 1840’s, O’Shaughnessy returned to England, and by the 1850’s, medicinal cannabis preparations were available in England and the U.S.
The 1860’s were also a time when the government began regulating the sale of pharmaceuticals, and various states began to require proper labeling for the drugs that were being sold. Penalties were meted out for improper labeling or sale of these “poisons.” By the early 1900’s, eight states had “poison” laws regarding cannabis and its sale as a pharmaceutical, while other states — though not restricting the sale of cannabis — required it to be properly labeled. By 1927, most states had placed cannabis under the same umbrella as other narcotic “poisons,” although it should be noted that as early as the 1850’s, there were hash houses in every major East Coast city that were frequented by a large clientele of upper-class citizens. Later, 1937 saw the passage of the Marijuana Tax Act, which was a federal law prohibiting the possession or transfer of marijuana in the United States except in the case of medical or industrial usage, for which a high tax was levied.
Federal Hypocrisy
William Randolph Hearst demonized marijuana in his publications and scared people by associating smoking pot with violent crime, but in 1944, New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia countered the 1937 tax act with the eponymous La Guardia Commission that disputed the reports of violence and addiction so readily reported in the Hearst papers. In 1969, the Supreme Court, in the case of Leary vs. The United States, decided against the Tax Act on the grounds that it was unconstitutional and that it violated the Fifth Ammendment. Not to be outdone, Congress then passed the Contolled Substances Act of 1970, which has culminated in the steady rise of the U.S. prison population. Of course, the irony of all this is that, since the late 1960’s, the Federal government has actually had its own cannabis farm and production facility, which is operated by the University of Mississippi, and ships its processed harvest to various licensed facilities across the U.S. for supposed research.
To expound on the federal government’s hypocrisy — in the 1970’s, Robert Randall was arrested for using marijuana to treat his glaucoma. He sued the federal government on the grounds that he needed the drug for medical purposes, providing exhaustive research demonstrating that no other drug worked as well. Surprisingly, he won the case, and the judge mandated that the federal government ship him 300 marijuana cigarettes a month from its research farm in Mississippi. (Randall died June 2, 2001 from AIDS-related complications at the age of 53).
In 1982, Irvin Rosenfeld joined the program which, though successful, was shuttered in 1992. Irvin Rosenfeld was one of 13 people in the program who were grandfathered in after the program closed, so the Feds could avoid being sued. Now, Mr. Rosenfeld is one of the four remaining people still receiving his his 300 medicinal joints; he is also the author of the book My Medicine, How I Convinced the U.S. Government to Provide My Marijuana and Helped Launch a National Movement. Mr. Rosenfeld clearly states his amazement at the hypocrisy of the Federal government, which still classifies pot as a Schedule 1 controlled substance while, at the same time, also still sends medical marijuana to certain patients. Things are changing, however, and the writing’s on the wall. Even neurosurgeon and journalist Sanjay Gupta has recanted his position regarding cannabis and has come out in favor of medical marijuana. Woo hoo! “We have been terribly and systematically misled for nearly 70 years in the United States, and I apologize for my own role in that,” Gupta said. Too bad he turned down the offer to be Surgeon General.
What A Relief It Is
What a nice little bump from an established somebody, but why not? The truth is that marijuana has been found to give relief from pain, muscle spasms, headaches, anxiety, nausea, vomiting, depression, cramps, panic attacks, diarrhea and itching — to name a few of its benefits. Also cited is that cannabis can be useful in treating neurological diseases such as ALS, MS and Parkinson’s, not to mention a plethora of other psychological and physical problems. A friend of mine who has bladder cancer tells me that the only way he managed to get through the chemotherapy was by smoking or ingesting cannabis. This leads me to believe that all my other friends who are self-medicating are not just frivolously getting high, but rather using the weed as a prophylactic measure against any future illness. And yes, I do believe cows can fly.
I personally do not smoke pot anymore, and usually my therapy comes in the form of a good single malt or a decent Pilsner. I did all my smoking in my teens, and when I reached the age of 20, I quit. Apparently after five years of self-medication, I had overcome my chronic teenagerism, a disease of hormonal imbalance and great angst. Of course, being in a buisiness where moving heavy cases, packing trucks, working long hours in stressful situations and sleeping (or not) on long overnight bus rides is the norm, I would say that most of us suffer from one thing or another. Back aches, shoulder pain, stress, knee problems and insomnia all lead to a good reason to self-medicate, but stress and pain aside, it is ultimately the music we all sign on for, and, quite frankly, music does sound better when one is properly medicated.
A Revolutionary Approach
That said, I would like to propose a revolutionary approach to doing sound. Do away with all the expensive audio gear, speakers, amps, processors and consoles, and just get some inexpensive gear. The money that’s saved by purchasing inexpensive gear can then be spent on some really excellent medicine. When people arrive at a concert, just make sure they all smoke a joint or two. Fire up the inexpensive gear and sit back and relax as the audience raves about the sound. Hell, it worked at Woodstock, and everbody had a grand old time.
