When John Boland and James Carroll purchased
The Paper in 1989, it’s fair to say that the newspaper industry was a whole lot different than it is today. The web was still five years off and the idea of a “digital presence” for newspapers was limited to text-based terminal services like Prodigy and Compuserve.

Boland, a Sebastopol resident and president and chief executive officer at KQED (he’s stepping down at the end of 2019), recalls that when he purchased The Paper, its office was in a dungeon-like space in Forestville. He and Carroll relocated to Freestone and converted a general store that was already there, into half–newspaper office, half general store.

The Paper, the Stump and the Independent—the DNA of pubs that birthed the Bohemian in 2000—were very much West County papers, Boland says, but in 1992 a business decision was made to move the newspaper, by then called the Independent, to Mendocino Avenue in Santa Rosa, at which point it went to Sonoma County-wide distribution.

At the time of the move, says Boland, the paper was being published twice a month, but once they moved to Santa Rosa, “things really improved and took off,” he says, recalling fun times when he and Carroll would forgo paychecks to help keep it all afloat.

“When we bought it,” Boland recalls in a recent phone interview, “we thought it didn’t need to be mainstream, but needed to be a more accessible alt-weekly.” He says they looked at the Village Voice and San Francisco Bay Guardian alt-weekly models for guidance, and said, “Let’s take it a little more in that direction—do arts and entertainment, but also investigative journalism.”

Those two big-city weeklies have both bitten the dust in the digital era, an irony that’s not lost on Boland or anyone else with an interest in the history of alt-weeklies and why some have made the transition while others have folded.

One striking thing about The Paper, the Stump and the Independent is that they were alternative-leaning weeklies published in a rural area, making for some difficulties on the revenue-generating end of the deal. But West County was, and still is, the alt-soul of the North Bay. Back then, says Boland, “Sebastopol was definitely known as Berkeley North.”

Reflecting on the business aspect of running an alt-weekly in farm country, Boland says, “It’s always been a struggle, and particularly in a less populated area like this, as compared to a populated area.” A true labor of love, he and Carroll “depleted savings,” he says, and “borrowed money from relatives.”

The history, in brief: the Stump‘s offices were in Monte Rio, and as Boland describes it, the paper was “very much a Russian River thing.” It became The Paper in the 1980s, when Nick Valentine was both editor and the graphic designer. “It was kind of known for its very alt, almost underground content, and for his graphic designs.” Guerneville was originally known as Stumptown because of all the logging that went on in the 19th century, he explains.

By the time Boland and Carroll purchased The Paper, Valentine had left and Tom Roth was the editor. The paper’s editorial was then focused on Sebastopol, Bodega Bay and the Russian River communities, even as it served all of West County, notes Boland.

In 1994, Boland and Carroll sold a majority interest in the newspaper to fellow Bay Area alternative publisher Metro. Boland stayed on as a board of director member of Metrosa, Inc., retaining a 12 percent ownership in the publication that continues to this day. In 2000, after publisher Rosemary Olson sought to expand circulation to nearby counties, the newspaper became the Bohemian.

Anyone in the newspaper business these days knows there’s a strangely liminal dynamic afoot: thanks to the advent of digital content, print advertising doesn’t carry the weight among local businesses that it once did. At the same time, it’s tough for newspapers to ramp up online revenue, given that most of the revenue from ad sales online goes to either Google or Facebook.

Boland’s got a vision for the industry and sees a way out—or through—with the advent of journalism outlets that don’t rely on advertising.

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“The future,” he says, “may be nonprofit, with voluntary support from people in the community.” He notes that the daily Philadelphia Enquirer has entered the nonprofit breach, and New York magazine recently announced a partnership with a nonprofit in New York called the City. ProPublica is the big daddy among nonprofit news outlets and will partner with established outlets to pump out top-tier investigative reporting.

“The digital transition has been really difficult for all print media,” Boland says, “and largely because we depended on advertising to support the journalism. And that model started breaking down many years ago because, as we all know, digital doesn’t give the revenue that ads give.”

The transition, Boland notes, has been especially tough on regional dailies like the Mercury News and the San Francisco Chronicle—”the worst place to be is the regional level,” he says—who have seen their newsroom staffs plummet in recent years.

For papers like the Washington Post and the New York Times, “they may have minimal advertising but have the whole nation to look to for subscribers, and can convert to a model where the people who use it, who consume it, are the people who support it. That could be subscriptions for a large national paper. But for regional, local papers, it’s harder.” He notes that the business model problem is the same as the problem with the public’s attitude about news: everyone believes it should be free.

A key indicator for survivors of the industry’s shrinkage is the extent to which they foresaw the digital future. The Mercury News and Chronicle, Boland says, “did not react quickly enough to digital and to the changes in the business model, and revenue declined rapidly.”

Then there’s the greed factor of the owners. “They just kept slashing expenses and staff.”

Boland gives the local Press Democrat props for its understanding of the digital transition, noting that they’ve tried to spread editorial costs across many media outlets while offering more regional and countywide journalism than any other paper in the Bay Area. “There are more reporters at the PD than at the San Jose [Mercury],” he says. “Something is working there.”

He also points to the thriving business model at KQED as another example of where the path forward for media must embrace digital interactivity and emphasize hard-hitting regional reporting that’s available free for everybody, “and asking people to voluntarily support us.” The radio station pumped millions of dollars into its budget to add a hundred people to its staff, “and really pump out much more regional journalism.”

“It’s almost like the PD,” Boland says. “We had to go to high-net-worth individuals in the Bay Area and say, ‘We really need to change and we really need your support.’ We raised $45 million.” (Almost like the PD, but not quite: the Press Democrat is owned by Sonoma lobbyist-developer Darius Anderson.)

“You can never have enough editorial people,” Boland says. “That seems to be the first place that they cut. . . . People are really stretched in content jobs right now. And it’s not just that they have a lot to cover and there’s not enough of their colleagues,” but that the demands of digital require journalists to learn new skills and apply them across multiple platforms, “and everybody has to engage with the audience and deliver content to them.”

Boland got his start in the industry as a cub reporter at the Daily Record in Morristown, N.J. He turns 70 next year and is coming to the end of his contract at KQED. He says he’s thinking of his next move. “I haven’t planned what I’m doing next, but one thing I’m thinking of is actually practicing journalism again.”

His first job in Jersey was in 1968, a time of great upheaval in this country, which also saw the rise of the alternative press and New Journalism as practiced by the likes of Tom Wolfe. He sees some parallels between then and now, and says, “I definitely think it is a very dangerous time, and it’s appalling that the media is under attack for doing our job.”

Still, he adds, “I’ve seen some positive effect, the level of civil engagement—I have not seen that [since 1968].”

But perspective is needed, Boland cautions: “I know we are in an incredibly challenging time, [but] we haven’t had 2,500 bombings, we don’t have post offices being blown up. . . . Things are bad now, but we’ve had divisive times in the past.”

He’s hopeful that, just as the roiling era of the late ’60s gave rise to a vibrant new crop of American media outlets, so might our times.

But whatever’s next for journalism, Boland stresses, “we’ve all got to become more digital first.”

Greetings! The editorial brain trust has gone back through the Bohemian archives to help celebrate, commemorate and otherwise delineate 40 years of continuous publication of the paper. There are several Flashback sections peppered through the issue that offer reported highlights from ink-stained wretches of yore. Here’s some content from the wacky 1980s to kick off the Flashbacks, with many thanks to our hard-working colleagues Alex T. Randolph, Aiyana Moya, Candace Simmons and Geena Gauthier for diving through the dusty archives to unearth numerous giblets of journalism from years past. —Tom Gogola

January 19, 1989

Solar-Powered Luxury Home in the Works

A completely solar-powered, four-bedroom home, that will sell for $350,000 is being built in the Vinecrest Estates, a luxury home park in Windsor, by Solar Electric Engineering of Rohnert Park.

Ground will be broken on February 1, according to Gary Starr, of Sebastopol, president of the company, who said that the aims of the project are both profit and education.

“We want to show that a solar-powered home can be as spacious and luxurious as any home connected to the energy-grid with very little additional outlay that will be more than covered by energy savings,” said Starr.

For an added sales incentive, this house will also come equipped with a solar-powered robot who can be programmed to serve drinks or tell teenagers to get off the phone and other useful chores, said Starr.

—Jerry Weil

March 2, 1989

Editorial: Friends
of Doug Bosco

It seems that whenever you get Congressman Doug Bosco before a special interest group, he does a bang-up job of playing to the crowd. You remember last year when Bosco soke to the Petroleum Institute in Washington, D.C., his “we” versus “them” earned the oil lobby’s applause, and set the Congressman’s home district aides scurrying to limit the damage. Friday Bosco journeyed up to Ukiah, where he spoke to the Redwood Region Conservation Council, a timber industry group. According to published reports, Bosco took the opportunity to do a little environmentalist bashing before a beleaguered group that no doubt hung on to his every word.

Many environmentalists seem to be making “a career” of battling myriad causes, said Bosco. Berating groups such as Friends of the Coast, Friends of the River [and] Friends of the Estero, Bosco declared that “we have more friends than we know what to do with.”

Compromise on timber issues is difficult when the logging industry insists that there are no problems associated with massive clearcuts and the decimation of old-growth redwoods, despite alarming reports from state water and wildlife agencies, and several court battles won by environmentalists. Compromise? You first have to get the logging industry to the table. That takes pressure, Doug, not crowd-pleasing potshots that make you look like a gilded fob in a fat cat’s waistpocket.

June 8, 1989

Gays and Lesbians Claim Victory in Defeat

County supervisors Tuesday once more declined to endorse Lesbian and Gay Pride Week, despite moving testimony from more than 35 speakers calling for a repudiation of prejudice.

Organizers claimed the event nonetheless served to show gay people’s increasing determination to be recognized.

About 150 people largely in favor of the resolution filled board chambers as supervisors moved on an agenda that included a proclamation declaring June “Make a Wish Month.” But hopes that June 18 through 24 might be dedicated to the contributions by the “invisible” minority were dashed, 4–1.

Where gay men and lesbians take pride in a sub-culture born of ostracism and encompassing unique strengths, the board majority saw a divisive issue grounded in sexual choice.

Supervisor Janet Nicholas said she was voting for a county and country where people are not discriminated against for any of the standard excuses, including sexual persuasion.

“I believe this resolution moves in the opposite direction,” she told the gathering.

After a few weeks of hedging in the media, Fifth District Supervisor Ernie Carpenter reaffirmed his support of the measure. It was the second year the board had voted down a lesbian and gay pride resolution introduced for consideration by Carpenter. . . .

—Ilka Jerabek

August 24, 1989

ACT UP: Who are they? What do they want?

Ten activists arrested in county supervisors’ chambers last week during a dramatic civil disobedience action tell the story behind the death masks.

They are ten of 60 members of the Sonoma County Chapter of ACT-UP, an activist group that advocates better care for people with AIDS.

The ten entered county board chambers the morning of Tuesday, August 15 wearing black ACT-Up T-shirts, cowls and death’s masks, and throwing red confetti while chanting to the supervisors, “Blood on your hands.”

The board members reconvened in another room and demonstrators were allowed to stay if they refrained from damaging anything or attempted to leave and re-enter the room. They were arrested about six hours later.

Supervisor Ernie Carpenter used the occasion to make public an earlier decision to resign from the County Commission on AIDS.

One protester defied sheriff’s orders when she allowed several of her companions who had left the room to return by an unguarded door. Upon her arrest, the others surrounded her and insisted that they be arrested as well.

All ten are scheduled to appear for arraignment on the charges against them September 11.

–Ilka Jerabek

October 4, 1990

The Making of
an Activist

Sometimes Helen Libeu’s shoes don’t match. She has reportedly been seen wearing one green sock and one blue one, but Helen denies this. “I don’t wear socks,” says Helen. As for the unmatched shoes, “They kind of looked alike. They were both tan.”

Let’s assume fashion is not what’s on Helen’s mind—at least not when she’s thinking about nailing a bureaucrat to the wall over, say, the illegal corporate logging practices of the North Coast timber industry. . . .

—Frank Robinson

January 17, 1991

Radical Actions Force
the Issue

It’s a dreary afternoon in Santa Rosa’s Courthouse Square as organizers of the biggest peace action ever in Sonoma County are preparing for the flood of marchers on their way down Mendocino Avenue.

A member of the group, the Action Coalition on the Middle East, has brought an American flag to the stage. Her thought is to hang the flag upside-down, a traditional symbol of a nation in distress. Other rally participants approach the stage to object to what they feel will be interpreted as an anti-American gesture. The flag is taken down, only to be replaced later in the rally by a group of students who plan to burn it. They are persuaded to forgo the action.

The incident in many ways reflects the larger debate among activists about the goals and tactics of the more than 20 local groups involved in peace actions.

The U.S. government’s response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait has forced people of conscience everywhere to act. . . .

—James Carroll

March 21, 1991

Author Randy Shilts Exposes Military Bigotry

The Paper: How did you choose the topic of gays in the military for your next book [Conduct Unbecoming].

Randy Shilts: Most heterosexuals don’t understand that genuine bigotry against gay people really exists, and that it really hurts people. I wanted to show the mechanics of prejudice in American society, and the military struck me as the ideal part of America to write about.

The Paper: Why does the military exclude gays?

Shilts: They no longer say that there’s anything inherent in gay people that makes them incompatible for service. Their basic argument is that it would undermine discipline and morale. People would not take orders from a gay officer; it would undermine morale. . . .

—Interview by John DeSalvio

May 16, 1991

Citizen of the World

Within 15 minutes of former CIA agent Philip Agee’s arrival at Los Robles Lodge, he was enthusiastically engaged in a conversation about olive oil and the vast, endless fields of olive trees in Spain, where he currently makes his home. There were other immediate clues—his sense of humor, his warm, firm handshake, and a clear, friendly manner of speaking—that here was a man fully engaged with life and the world around him.

Agee’s 17 years of exile and the endless attempts to by the U.S. government to silence his vocal dissent have not eclipsed what appears to be an unlikely optimism that warmed the sold-out crowd of 300-plus in Santa Rosa on May 1. Which is not to say that his perspective on the underside of our government’s activities has changed. . . .

—Michele Anna Jordan

April 1, 1999

Last Drop: Success sprouts a premium-grape shortage

If Paula Cole lived in Sonoma County, rather than singing about cowboys, her lyrical lament might well be: “Where have all the wine grapes gone?” Even though the 1998 harvest was the second largest on record in the Sonoma/Marin region, according to a preliminary report issued by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, there is a critical shortage of quality wine grapes in the county.

One consequence of the shortage is likely to hit consumers where it hurts the most: in their wallets.

Some 132,715 tons of grapes were harvested in Sonoma County last fall. That’s about 5,000 more tons than the 1996 crush produced, but well under 1997’s record 187,725-ton yield. And with most 1997 white wines now on the market and selling briskly, wineries, distributors and retailers are bracing for an extremely tight market once the more limited 1998 wines have evolved sufficiently to bottle and release.

What has spawned the upsurge of interest in local wines? Rick Theis, until recently the executive director of the Sonoma County Grape Growers Association, says the region’s reputation has been slowly building over the last decade-and-a-half.

“Fifteen years ago, people wouldn’t have thought about looking for a Sonoma County wine first,” Theis says.

Besides consumer demand, another factor is fueling the county’s grape shortage: big business. “A few very large wineries are buying as much fruit as possible, leaving everyone else to fight for what they can get,” observes Rod Berglund, winemaker for Joseph Swan Vineyards.

—Bob Johnson

March 4, 1999

Power Lunch

“Writers are, in a way, very powerful indeed,” William Burroughs once noted. “They write the script for the reality film. Kerouac opened a million coffee bars and sold a million pairs of Levis to both sexes. Woodstock rises from his pages. Sometimes, as in the case of Kerouac, the effect produced by a writer is immediate, as if a generation were waiting for it to be written.”

But despite of—or because of?—their enormous impact on the cultural life of the second half of the 20th century, the great American author William Seward Burroughs and his contemporaries Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg were despised and reviled by the literary establishment for most of their creative lives.

Even now, the vast body of innovative literature created by this holy trinity of the Beat Generation is scorned by the academy and mainly denied its seminal influence on the course of creative writing since 1950, let alone its central role in the development of modern consciousness. . . .

—John Sinclair

May 6, 1999

Anatomy Lesson: Eve Ensler’s ‘The Vagina Monologues’ puts women’s experiences in the spotlight

Eve Ensler assures me that once you say the word vagina 20,000 times, the odd sticky stigma around it disappears. She, of course, should know, having virtually made her career talking about vaginas, how women feel about them, how the world abuses them, how the word itself scares people.

“I think this is women’s time,” she says. “Women are going to come forward in the next 10 years and really move into a place of power. That’s my hope and my fantasy. The world of women will change when the world of their bodies changes.”

—Simone Stein

May 20, 1999

Slow Down

The newest issue of Slow, the official journal of the worldwide Slow Food movement, which seeks to preserve biodiversity and nurture craft foods, presents a roundup of quality American food crops and products that belong on the metaphorical “Ark” of food and crop diversity. Thanks to the efforts of local Slow Foodie Barbara Bowman, several Sonoma food products would be first in line to board the boat. Among the growers and producers listed in this first-ever U.S. showcase are Devoto Gardens (the Gravenstein apple), Vella Cheese Company (dry Monterey jack cheese) and Tierra Vegetables (of chipotle chile fame). . . .

—Marina Wolf

June 17, 1999

Sonoma, Naturally!

It’s hard to believe that little Amy, the baby whose birth in 1988 inspired the famed local all-natural frozen foods company, will be 12 in November. Proud parents Andy and Rachel Berliner started the namesake Amy’s Kitchen in Petaluma after their daughter was born, and out of necessity. They wanted healthy, tasty, and easy-to-fix alternatives to the frozen convenience foods and TV dinners packing the grocery freezers. Thus their line of vegetarian organic frozen foods was born. Favorites include vegetable pot pie, vegetable lasagna, and black bean enchiladas. In addition, the company has introduced a line of organic canned soups. . . .

—Paula Harris

August 5, 1999

Smoke Screen: Will the easy access to online drugs open the door to a depraved new world?

It came in a plain brown wrapper—two varieties of high-grade marijuana totalling a quarter ounce, delivered to a downtown San Francisco office building via regular mail. The pot had been ordered [from] an Amsterdam website, which is designed to look just like a Dutch coffee-shop menu. The site offers two types of weed and five types of hash, all pictured and listed on a pull-down order form with boxes to let buyers specify how many grams of each kind they want. After ordering, customers receive an e-mail with an address on it. They’re instructed to send cash. . . .

—Michelle Goldberg

December 30, 1999

Nostradementia: Predictions for the fabulous century to come

2005: Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Jewel.

2007: USA Today, New York Times and Los Angeles Times merger. The new daily journal calls itself Complete Lies, in order to pique the sense of irony of the sought-after “Generation Z.1” market—the most ironic generation in human history. The strategy backfires: As a title, Complete Lies could conceivably be true—and therefore unironic. Sales plummet. The new national paper fires all of its writers, rejiggers its image and re-debuts, calling itself Absolute Truth. Now satisfied with the irony, young readers make Absolute Truth “their” “paper” “of” “record.”

2021: Scientists gather at Antarctic Sands beach resort to debate existence of global warming.

—Richard von Busack

January 14, 2009

Open Mic: Triangulated Presidency

The progressives who remain eager to project their worldviews onto Obama are at high risk for hazy credulity. Such projection is a common hazard of Obamania. Biographer David Mendell aptly describes Obama as “an exceptionally gifted politician who, throughout his life, has been able to make people of wildly divergent vantage points see in him exactly what they want to see.”

But in the long run, an unduly lofty pedestal sets the stage for a fall from grace. The best way to avoid becoming disillusioned is to not have illusions in the first place.

Barack Obama never promised progressives a rose garden. His campaign inspired tens of millions of Americans, raised the level of public discourse and ousted the right wing from the White House. And he has pledged to encourage civic engagement and respectful debate. The rest is up to us.

—Norman Solomon

January 28, 2009

The YouTube Democracy

Anyone who doesn’t yet understand what an unstoppable cultural force YouTube has become should consider this latest bit of news: Even while it was pursuing a billion-dollar lawsuit against YouTube’s owner Google for copyright infringement, Viacom was secretly uploading promotional videos to the site. They may hate it, but they need it.

The allegation was made by Google in papers filed in federal court, and when corporate executives suing a supposed copyright pirate recognize that they need that pirate to survive, it illustrates how far behind the curve intellectual-property law has fallen in the digital culture of the 21st century.

One man who was making this very argument years before most people even knew the subject existed is Mark Hosler, founder of the pioneering Bay Area–based group Negativland. Negativland’s history of making music by pushing the boundaries of sonic form opened up the very notion of what “music” was allowed to be in the formerly verse-chorus-verse rock world, paving the way for artists like Danger Mouse, Girl Talk and an entire generation of mashup artists. . . .

—Steve Palopoli

February 4, 2009

Sex in the Suburbs: Porn is alive and well (hung) in Rohnert Park

Most people don’t know that a porn industry exists in Sonoma County, let alone thrives. Yet the discovery that Rohnert Park is the hub of our local porn industry makes a strange sort of sense. It’s always the faceless, homogenous suburbs, like the San Fernando Valley in Southern California, that generate the masturbatory materials for the rest of the world.

Turk, a 24-year-old gay “twink,” says, “A lot of [porn] companies, they don’t even ask, they just pop it to you—Viagra, Cialis. It works, but you do get side effects.” . . .

—Gabe Meline

February 18, 2009

Letters

The gay porn story truly lacked balance. Viagra? You must be kidding. Missing from the story is the meth, blow and crack. It is a sad day in paradise when adult gay porn is a front-page story and drugs are not mentioned.

—Diane Kane

Northern California’s premier cannabis destination for the last 15 years, the Emerald Cup has secured a place in pot history with its respected competition, eclectic entertainment and ever-present commitment to honoring organic, outdoor cannabis.

For the first time, this year’s Emerald Cup, taking place Dec. 15–16 at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa, is commencing in a state where cannabis is now legal for all users. While that may sound like a one-way ticket to the biggest pot party on the planet, Emerald Cup founder Tim Blake and his team have found 2018 to be anything but smooth.

“It’s been a very challenging legalization,” says Blake. “The state wasn’t ready to give out permits; people were jumping through hoops. For the Cup, we had to spend a lot of time and money on lobbyists and working with the BCC [Bureau of Cannabis Control] to ensure that we could run it the way it’s always been run.”

With cannabis being consumed, judged in competition and purchased at the Cup, the organizers had to develop a working relationship with the new state regulators, who Blake says were not yet set up to handle the licensing and regulations required to host an event this size. The Emerald Cup last year hosted around 50,000 attendees, and this year’s cannabis competition has received 500 entries.

“Across the board it’s been challenging, whether you’re a dispensary, distribution company, nursery—it has been really something,” says Blake, who estimates that only a few hundred permits for cultivation have been issued for places in Mendocino and Humboldt County, where there are more than 10,000 farmers.

After spending much of the year educating the BCC about how the cannabis is judged, transported, stored, sold and consumed at the Emerald Cup, Blake is grateful to announce that all aspects of the event are still in place.

“We had to make them realize this is a critical aspect to our industry,” says Blake. “Not only the Emerald Cup, but all the cannabis events held around the state—small farmers depend on it.”

As with every year, the Emerald Cup prides itself on being an organic cannabis competition. This year, the Cup is expanding with new categories for licensed products like edibles, topicals, concentrates and tinctures, and is including a “Personal Use Grower” category, allowing an opportunity for everyone with a talent for growing cannabis to participate.

The Cup is also handing out its annual lifetime achievement award, this year honoring music legend and cannabis ambassador Willie Nelson. “Willie epitomizes the cannabis industry, the struggle we’ve gone through the last 50 years,” says Blake. “If there’s ever a person that could be called a true OG, who’s been there and been openly, publicly fighting for us, it would be Willie.”

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The Country Music Hall of Famer has long been an advocate for the consumption and legalization of marijuana. He’s even got his own recreational cannabis company, Willie’s Reserve. Blake reached out to Nelson for several years about the lifetime achievement award, which has been a feature of the Cup for more than a decade, though, reportedly, Nelson spends the winter in Hawaii. “This year, he’s decided to come back and join us, accept that award,” says Blake. “He also gave us permission to change the name of the award to the Willie Nelson Award, and he’ll be the first recipient of it. I am beyond honored and humbled that Willie and his team would look at the Emerald Cup, vet us out and decide that we’re a class enough act that he would have his name attached to us forever. It’s one of the proudest moments I’ve had with the Cup.”

Nelson will be honored during the Cup’s award ceremony on Sunday, Dec. 16. And while he’s not scheduled to perform, his appearance tops the bill of a stacked lineup of music and comedy that’s running all weekend.

The Cup’s reputation for partying is legendary, and last year boasted groups like the Roots and the Pimps of Joytime. This year’s headliners include New Orleans legends Dirty Dozen Brass Band making noise on both Saturday and Sunday, veteran gypsy punks Gogol Bordello on Saturday, and hip-hop duo Big Gigantic on Sunday. Other live acts include Nashville-based country singer-songwriter Margo Price, recently nominated for the Grammy for Best New Artist; Brooklyn-based Afrobeat kings Antibalas; Bay Area hip-hop star Lyrics Born; Santa Cruz electronic collective STS9; and many others.

The Cup also welcomes actor Jason Mewes and writer-director Kevin Smith, better known as Jay and Silent Bob in Smith’s cult classic films Clerks, Mall Rats, Chasing Amy and others. The hilarious duo have recently taken to podcasting, and their show Jay & Silent Bob Get Old, is ranked No. 1 on iTunes Comedy podcasts. Fans can see them live on stage Saturday telling stories and cracking jokes.

Another newcomer to the Cup is standup comedian Doug Benson, who co-hosts the entertainment with Cup veteran Ngaio Bealum. Benson has become cannabis’ official comedian ever since he starred in the 2008 documentary Super High Me, where he explored the effects of smoking cannabis for 30 days.

Beyond the entertainment, the Cup is stacked with guest speakers like chief of the Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation Lori Ajax, director of cultivation science at Steep Hill Lab Lydia Abernethy, industrial hemp consultant Chris Conrad, and a wide swath of lawyers, growers and business developers.

Other topics up for discussion include the social-justice aspects of cannabis, regenerative and sustainable farming, spirituality and more. Blake is personally excited to welcome psychedelic researchers and experts to talk about their work in medicinal psychedelics. Under the guise of healing, and with the right methodology, Blake says that psychedelics could be the next frontier in treating depression and mental illness.

“The FDA recently approved psilocybin mushrooms research for depression,” says Blake. “It’s a very big topic. Michael Pollan just wrote a best-selling book on it, How to Change Your Mind. And right now we’re coming full circle not only with cannabis, but looking back on how the positive benefits of psychedelics got overlooked by the demonization.”

With so much happening, Blake compares the Emerald Cup to the Lollapalooza of cannabis, and the overall experience promises to entertain, educate and inspire the community with a focus on inclusiveness and cooperation.

“I’m more excited than ever,” says Blake. “I thought we’d play ourselves out, but here we are in our 15th year, and I feel like, boy, we’re just getting our legs under us.”