THE 2008 DOOBIE AWARDS

South by Southwest—it’s the biggest independent music festival in America, flooding Austin each March with more bands and booze than most self-respecting Texas towns could bear. Of course, Austin isn’t like most Texas towns—it’s not only the state’s capital, it’s also the self-proclaimed “live music capital of the world.” Which is why, for over a decade now, SXSW has been the home of HIGH TIMES’s rowdiest annual party—and for the past few years, of our music awards, the Doobies. I’d attended many of those parties, but this was the first time I’d ever been put in charge of one. In fact, it had been over three years since I’d been down to the festival, and it felt damn good to be back. With my new leather cowboy hat and Pot Star by my side, I felt cocky enough to piss on the Alamo.
    

Not that I would, mind you.
    

 The club we’d booked to host the event was the Red Eyed Fly—one of the chillest spots on Red River Street. Like most places in town, it had a bar area up front and a large open-air stage out back. When I arrived that Saturday morning, I found that the Harley Davidson girls had set up camp right next-door, and the box of trophies (gold-tinted glass bongs courtesy of Zong) had luckily arrived. As per tradition, the party was slated to start at “high noon” and run until 6 p.m., but as expected, things were running slightly behind schedule. By the time we opened the doors around 12:30, there was already a line out front stretching down to the corner.
    

 After a few brief words of welcome, I introduced our first act of the day—the debut of power trio Blower, starring former HIGH TIMER Merilee on bass, her significant other Doug Evans (formerly of Illinois punk group the Didjits) on guitar/vocals, and Jimmy Delp on drums. I’d spent my first night in town at their place drinking beer and watching Kiss Alive on DVD, and learned of their new-found passion for showmanship. “We’re like stadium rock for the bar crowd,” explained Merilee before they headed onstage in their costumes—she in a pink dress, and Doug in leather biker gear and a German helmet. They got the crowd going, cranking out some high-octane, soon-to-be cock-rock classics like “Hot Wheels, Cold Beer and Big Titties” and “Rock Anthem.”
    

 After Blower, it was time for the first award of the day—presented by Marijuana Music Award–winning pot poet Paul Bullock, who entertained the audience with two witty, wired poems.
    

 “I’d like to ask you … ” he asked, beginning his first composition, “when you misplace your pot, / Do you hunt and peck a lot? / And look where you just looked before, / In the corner of the desk, in the very same drawer?” Bullock followed it up with another, more political poem about the hypocrisy of the Drug War entitled “Carpool Mom.” He then presented the Doobie for Best Jam Rock Artist to Keller Williams (who later accepted the award in New York—see the interview on page 72).
    

 Next up were Dickie Moist and the OTC. I’d originally booked local redneck rockers Honky to play, but when one of them had to skip town unexpectedly, their guitarist Jeff Pinkus (formerly of the Butthole Surfers) asked if he could play with his other project, the OTC—which includes former Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age bassist Nick Oliveri and Moistboyz frontman Dickie Moist. The most raw and rowdy of the day’s performers, the OTC’s angsty, adrenaline-fueled style ripped the room a new one and had them begging for more. Afterwards, Oliveri returned to the stage with HT’s mistress of mayhem, Vaporella, to present the next awards.
    

 “I’m so lucky to be presenting with you, Nick—you guys were awesome!” Vaporella gushed. “You know, I like other music besides metal —I like hard rock, punk rock, junk rock, fuck rock … ”
    

 “That’s my personal favorite,” Oliveri interjected. “Fuck rock!” He presented the award for Best Metal Artists to Texas’s own Hellyeah, followed by Vapey’s awarding of Best Stoner Rock to Fu Manchu.
    

 “Fu Manchu fuckin’ rocks!” Oliveri announced approvingly as he clutched the pair of Zongs. “I’m happy to be accepting for Fu, as well as Hellyeah. Hellyeah!”
    

 The duty of introducing the next band—the Lions—also fell to Vaporella.
    

 “Austin truly is being represented here,” she cheered, “by your BBQ, your beer, and of course your music, with the Lions!”

Vapey had seen them play years ago in New York, and feeling they were a perfect fit for HIGH TIMES, had suggested they play the awards. Her judgment proved to be superb—with their messy long hair and psychedelic garage-rock sound, the Lions roared across the stage in a manner reminiscent of Zeppelin’s early days.

The next awards to be given out were Best Local Artist and Best Reggae/World Music Artist. To do the honors, we brought up HT’s favorite Texans: Pot Star and Sarah, Miss HIGH TIMES 2007. The Lions were recognized as Best Local Band, which bassist T-Rev celebrated by loading up his trophy mere seconds after receiving it and inhaling the win. Following that, Sarah accepted the Best Reggae/World Music Artist award on behalf of the adorable activist singer M.I.A. She went on to introduce the next act, Sun Salutation—a trippy reggae-rock band from her hometown of Corpus Christi. The day before, a couple of the band’s members had attended our Cowboy Cup and contributed the strains Cinderella and Muddy Thumb to the mix. Today, they provided a welcome oasis of chill vibes amidst the faster pace of the other bands—mellowing the mood and getting the girls grooving.

“The High Times people have been taking very good care of us,” said vocalist Erin Harris, “and we appreciate that.”

Some of our other Miss HT finalists—Miss November ’07 Nicole, Miss January ’08 Lauren, Miss March ’08 Kimberly and Miss April ’08 Ieisha—were up next, presenting the awards for Best Hip-Hop Artist and Best New/Underground Artist. Both awards went to artists who had performed at last year’s Cannabis Cup: the former to Redman (who was chosen nearly unanimously by the HT staff), and the latter to stoner rap-rockers Pyrx, who were also next on our lineup.

 Truth be told, Pyrx weren’t already in town for the convention—they’d traveled halfway across the country just to play the Doobies, and their enthusiasm was evident.

“We’ve never been to Texas before,” shouted lead vocalist Blaze1 as he took the mic. “Now we’re gonna do it for you Cali-style.” Their funky, eclectic rhythms and rhymes added some welcome hip-hop flavah to the predominantly rock ’n’ roll roster. Around 4 p.m., they took a short intermission so we could officially mark the magic moment approaching—4:20—with a few words of wisdom and a celebratory toast from one of HT’s most dynamic speakers.

“Hello, my name is Rick Cusick—I’m the associate publisher of HT, and as you might guess, I have the best fuckin’ job in the world.” Rick got the crowd riled up with some poignant activist info and fiery rhetoric.  

 “Twenty-five million people smoked marijuana last year!” he shouted. “Fifteen million people smoked marijuana last month, and five million Americans will smoke marijuana today … and we’re going to be some of them!” Rick sparked up a few joints, then led the crowd in a 4:20 countdown which culminated in a triumphant cheer and a cloud of smoke that rivaled an LA smog bank.

After a quick encore by Pyrx, it was time for the last two awards: Pot Song of the Year and the Lifetime Achievement Award. It was public knowledge that headliners Blue Cheer would be receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award, but everyone was pleasantly surprised when they also won Pot Song of the Year for “Rollin Dem Bones,” a hard-rockin’ blues number about getting high that’s destined to become one of the great stoner anthems of all time. For the final and most prestigious award, I felt a short history lesson was in order.

“Let me tell you something,” I declared. “Nobody deserves this award more than the gentlemen standing behind me right now. Talk about paying dues—for the past 40 years, these guys have paid their dues, my dues, your dues, everybody’s dues. They make Mötley Crüe look like Menudo. Back in the Summer of Love, when everyone else was talking about flower power, they were talking about decibel power, becoming the first American metal band. I’m deeply honored to call these guys my friends, and to present the HIGH TIMES Lifetime Achievement Award in music to Dickie Peterson, Paul Whaley and Duck MacDonald—BLUE FUCKIN’ CHEER!”

“Well, now I have two pipes to test tonight!” joked Peterson over the roar of the crowd as he held up their trophies. “This means an awful lot to me. I’ve been smoking for 45 years now, and we’ve worked hard all our lives, so this is really special for us. Thank you, Bobby—thank you, HIGH TIMES! And thanks to all of you people—it takes all of you to make this real. Tomorrow we leave for Europe, but right now, we’re gonna get up in your face and do what Blue Cheer does best.”

And what Cheer does best is play the heaviest blues rock on earth. They unleashed an aural assault upon the audience that put most younger bands to shame—thundering out songs from their new album That Which Doesn’t Kill Us, as well as old classics like “Parchment Farm,” “Doctor Please” and their most well-known hit, “Summertime Blues.” They were so loud, in fact, that at the end of their set, Peterson’s amp vibrated so hard that it toppled over, hitting him in the shoulder.

As I stared out through the sweet-smelling fog, across the capacity crowd of partying potheads, I knew I’d done good. On this day, the Red Eyed Fly had truly earned its name, and I’d earned my cowboy hat—and, hopefully, the privilege of returning next year to do it all again. Until then … stay weird, Austin.a

HIGH TIMES would like to thank the Red Eyed Fly, Zong, all of the bands who performed, and SXSW and the city of Austin for their hospitality.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN THE AUGUST 2008 ISSUE OF HIGH TIMES