Free weed, free tunes: U.S. pot bar hosts karaoke

PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) -- Lights dim. A white-haired man of perhaps 50 approaches the stage. He's wearing a blue suit jacket, open-neck shirt, black leather loafers and sunglasses, indoors, at night. He's got the Sinatra panache down.

Then, the voice, a rich baritone, sweeps over the audience of a couple dozen glazed and grinning pot smokers.

"Day and night, night and daaaaay," he croons the Sinatra standard into a mic in his right hand. "Only you beneath the moon or under the sun, whether near to me or far, it's no matter darling where you are.

"Dum dum, dum dum de-doo-dee-dum."

The audience yelps and coos in appreciation.

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;)

POT BAR? One actually EXISTS?

I demand that someone give me the GPS coordinates. ROAD TRIP!

there wont have been one brawl.

The place isn't turning a profit yet. Martinez thinks that within a few years, Oregon will legalize a drug that already enjoys near-legal status and that's when the real money will roll in.

Think of it, she says: Movie theaters, bars, hotels and, maybe, a taxi service, all catering to marijuana smokers.

But for now, it's all donated weed and free music and a prominent budget deficit for the state of Oregon -- $3.5 billion in all -- that Martinez insists could be ameliorated by the sale and taxation of cannabis.

The mindset at the cafe is a blend of avid horticulture, sharing-is-caring communalism and good old-fashioned West Coast anti-authoritarianism.

I met Ms. Martinez at the NORML convention in Denver last month. Very nice, sharp woman, committed to the Goddess.

Maybe if we can't bury the DEA with science, common sense and compassion; we can deafen them with karaoke and ridicule.

God I love that tune



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql0IB1zv2MA