The Marijuana Chronicles

2Young2Die

  I just saw Philip Seymour Hoffman’s posthumous last film, “A Most Wanted Man.” And maybe it’s too easy to say in retrospect but it was like watching a man on a suicide mission, chain-smoking, wheezing, overweight, rarely making eye contact with the camera as if he was embarrassed. (Yes, it’s an internal performance, but still.) No question he’s the most soulful of actors with a kind of sweet/tragic beauty but in this movie he just seems ill. Watching Hoffman was, for me, like a recent viewing of “The Misfits,” the last film for Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable (an unlikely romantic couple, Gable 59 and looking 65; Monroe 33 looking 40), though Monroe had once fantasized Gable was her father. Still beautiful though bloated, bad-wigged, boozy and sometimes dazed, Monroe’s is a brave performance but difficult to watch, almost too naked and revealing. I mentioned this to Joyce Carol Oates, who didn’t agree that Marilyn … Read more

Book Q&A’s with Deborah Kalb

This is an excerpt of my interview with Deborah Kalb on her great blog Book Q&A’s. Q: How did The Marijuana Chronicles come about, and how did you determine which authors to include in the collection? A: That’s a two-part question, Deborah. The first part is easy. I was at a book party and was talking to Johnny Temple, the publisher of Akashic Books, and he mentioned that he was looking for an editor to do The Marijuana Chronicles, the third in his ongoing drug series. I immediately said I was interested. Not because I’m a pothead – I’m not – but I thought it would be a great project, obviously topical and that it would be fun to do, all of which turned out to be true. Read more…

Book Talk Interview with Kory French – Break Thru Radio

Here is a recent interview I did on Break Thru Radio with Kory French. The 1st half is about “me” and the 2nd half about THE MARIJUANA CHRONICLES. I thought is was going to be all about the book so I was a little unprepared for the personal questions but I did my best. The show has a long musical Intro and then another at the midpoint but you can skip past them. And you may have to hit “DJ Kory” when you get to the site. But have a listen and let me know what you think. Listen here: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/book_talk_with_kory_french.mp3]

Let’s Lunch “The Munchies”

The wonderful writer and cook Cheryl Tan invited me to contribute a recipe to her “Let’s Lunch” group in honor of The Marijuana Chronicles. So here goes, a recipe with a little commentary… With the publication of THE MARIJUANA CHRONICLES I think I’m getting a bad reputation. But hey, it’s better than no reputation. And putting that book together was so much fun. I mean Singapore stoners via Cheryl Tan? What could be better or more exotic? Or Lee Child’s stoner preparing for his drug trial by doing what else: getting stoned. Or Joyce Carol Oates’s middle class widow rushing head first into danger in pursuit of the weed or Linda Yablonsky’s cross-dressing, gun-toting hero or Amanda Stern’s touching coming of age pot story or 60s radical Raymond Mungo in pursuit of medical marijuana or Maggie Estep’s stoned zombie hookers. Yeah, you heard that right. I could go on, but let’s get to the munchies. … Read more