Fairfax approves first licensed medial pot delivery system in US
June 21, 2010
(Fairfax, Calif.) The Fairfax Planning Commission recently approved a plan for the first licensed and regulated medical cannabis delivery system in the nation.
Lynette Shaw, the plan’s organizer and operator of the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, looks at the approval as an historic move by the town of Fairfax, Calif. where she has operated the alliance for the past 13 years. The change allows delivery to individuals who are too ill or who can’t travel to the licensed facility to receive safe medical cannabis delivery, Shaw states. “I am proud of Fairfax,” Shaw says of the decision. “I feel honored by all the support we have.”
The Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana has been licensed to distribute medical marijuana since 1997. Shaw held the only permit to do so in California for some 10 years until other municipalities started to regulate the non-profit sales of medical cannabis. There have been very few problems during the 13 years the Marin Alliance has been open, and not a single violation from the lengthy list of conditions.
Several other modifications to the original permit were also loosened up with out-dated rules removed making it easier for patients to comply with the law.
The controversy over unlicensed dispensaries and unregulated medical pot delivery services has exploded statewide and the issue has been featured in much media commentary.
MARIN ALLIANCE FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA.
6 School St Plaza #215.
Fairfax, Ca 94930
415.256.9328
The big question facing all classical-music organizations these days is how to convert new fans to attend performances. The Cotati-based American Philharmonic orchestra has hit upon the most effective, if obvious, answer: make concerts free. Self-described as “the people’s orchestra,” there’s nothing stuffy about the AP’s performances, and they’re usually peppered with uncommon pieces from the repertoire. This weekend’s program, titled Inner Space – Outer Space, features Holst’s The Planets, a common piece if ever there was one. But representing the “inner” portion of the program is Copland’s poignant Quiet City, originally written for an obscure Irwin Shaw play of the same name that closed after two shows. Debussy’s Nocturnes rounds out the egalitarian experience on Saturday, May 22 at 8pm and Sunday, May 23 at 3pm, at the Wells Fargo Center. 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. Free; donations accepted. 707.542.8234.Gabe Meline 
Napa’s recently-restored Uptown Theatre has opened (finally!) at an opportune juncture in the North Bay. With Konocti Harbor Resort closed and the Wells Fargo Center restructuring their booking, the Uptown’s management have picked up the ball and are spelling out acts on their marquee that used to grace those venues: Ani DiFranco, Foreigner, Lewis Black, Asia, B.B. King, Merle Haggard. Smaller performers who might not ordinarily play an opulently renovated 860-seat 1930s theater get a chance, too, with a handful of interesting double bills, including Richard Thompson and Loudon Wainwright III together later this month. This weekend, it’s Grammy Award-winner Shawn Colvin paired with the bespectacled Lisa Loeb on Saturday, May 22, at the Uptown Theatre. 1350 Third St., Napa. 8pm. $37-$47. 707.259.0123.Gabe Meline 
Within days of the first, wildly successful Hootenanny at the North Bay Film and Art Collective, event organizers celebrated with our modern version of the old-time vaudeville afterglow. In other words, they started a Facebook page. It soon emerged that there was more than memorializing at hand, though, because this weekend’s second installment, titled Dustbowl Road, features over two dozen bands spread out over just five hours. At a block party including Video Droid, the Last Record Store, Community Market and Gaia’s Garden, there’s the music of Waters, J.D. Limelight, Skiffle Symphony, the Easy Leaves and truckloads more; workshops and jams continue throughout the day until the afterparty at the North Bay Film and Art Collective that night at 6:30. Grab your banjo and shuck on down on Saturday, May 22, at Clement and Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa. Noon-5pm. Free. 707.525.1963.
There’s some dishes to be done. Fill the sink with water, clean them, drain the sink. Carpets a little dirty. Get out vacuum, turn it on, turn it off. Dust on the bookshelves. Find duster, dust, replace duster. Like a household chore, it’s with this same perfunctory process that E-40 appeared to treat his show two months ago in Petaluma: Get to show, play hits, bail. Within 45 minutes, a guy counted a stack of cash on the stage; directly after, the Vallejo-bred rapper was out the side door and driving away in an SUV. But you wanna know the maddening thing? Those were 45 insanely great minutes. For those who’ve danced their ass off to “Sprinkle Me” live and in person, make wit’ da hurryupness when E-40 plays on Thursday, May 20, at 19 Broadway Niteclub, 19 Broadway, Fairfax. 9:30pm. $30. 415.459.1091.Gabe Meline 
Most dance clubs strive for flashiness in their names, but looking at the greats—Fabric, the Hacienda, Pacha, Studio 54—it’s clear that simpler is better. Party: Sixth and Wilson has a similarly plain, descriptive title, and could well just be the dance event of the summer—even though the summer’s not here yet. In an effort to completely transform the inside of the normally staid brick North Bay Film & Art Collective, the event producers are bringing in “live plants of all shapes and sizes, mylar and other plastics, glass globes, sound loops and video montages” for an experience the promoters are promising will “immerse the partygoer.” With DJs from Detroit and San Francisco, expect to sweat up a frenzy at Party: Sixth and Wilson on Saturday, May 15, at the North Bay Film and Art Collective, 99 Sixth St., Santa Rosa. 9pm. $12; 21 and over. myspace.com/northbayfac.Gabe Meline 
Like Burt Bacharach, the Oklahoma-born songwriter Jimmy Webb is an AM-radio legend, penning hits such as “MacArthur Park,” “Wichita Lineman” and “Up, Up and Away.” Unlike Bacharach, he hardly gets his due anymore. Courageously splitting away from commercial endeavors in the 1970s transformed Webb into something of a cult figure, but whose fans include Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, Linda Ronstadt, Joe Cocker, R.E.M. and Willie Nelson. Webb’s genius can be heard on Isaac Hayes’ version of his “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” which Frank Sinatra called “the greatest torch song ever written,” and on the sprawling, creative and bizarre Richard Harris concept album The Yard Went on Forever, a rare but cherished LP. He performs on Saturday, May 15, at the Napa Valley Opera House, 1030 Main St., Napa. 8pm. $25-$35. 707.226.7372.Gabe Meline 
Electric guitars, slick cars and seven-ten splits are the daily specials on the menu for Hot Rods & Rhythm, a pomade-fueled daytime festival benefiting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Held at Napa Bowl, where even the lanes are waxed, the waxed paint-jobs and waxed pompadours will be fired up with the sounds of the B-Stars, Kit and the Branded Men and the wonderfully-named Blue Diamond Fillups. In the lot, a fleet of classic pre-’72 cars will be on display for endless under-the-hood conversations, and the vinyl selections of DJ Vida Lee keep things hoppin’ between bands. Bring the kids—it’s all-ages—for a rockin’ good time on Saturday, May 15, at Napa Bowl. 494 Soscol Ave., Napa. 1-6pm. $10. 707.224.8331.Gabe Meline 
It’s hard to imagine a time when only a small handful of channels comprised the television landscape, but in 1967, there weren’t hundreds of networks dedicated to every political view under the sun—which makes the Smothers Brothers’ sly political commentary during national tumult all the more brave. David Bianculli’s recent 400-page book Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of ‘The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour’ covers in excellent detail the Smothers Brothers’ subtle infiltration of network television and, ultimately, the clashes with CBS that led to their firing; it’s a definitive and often nostalgic guide to the hurdles Tom and Dick Smothers faced. In a rare performance, the pioneers in topical comedy appear on Friday, May 14, at the Wells Fargo Center. 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. 8pm. $40-$50. 707.546.3600.Gabe Meline 
