Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
I am writing op-ed pieces, and have three books on the go as well as a
new treatment for my screenplay version of HIGH.  Writing is more
difficult today than when I was in prison.  There I had much time for
that solitary endeavor, while it seems I have less and less time these
days as I work on a continuity of paychecks.
  

    
Sounds like life in general.

I was just thinking -- do you have any contact with or any idea what
has happened to the people you knew in prison or in the smuggling
world?  Anybody you wish you could find out about or talk to?
  

    
I know where most of them are these days, with the exception of the
Colombians.  Almost all are out of that business, but some remain
steadfast and continue.  I still have friends in prison who have been
there for more than twenty years now, for pot.  As far as I am
concerned, there is the crime. 
  

    
Indeed!
  

    
Brian, I'm curious about your family.  During your time smuggling and
in jail were you in touch with your siblings and parents?  Were they
aware of your dealings?
  

    
I always kept in touch with my family, with the exception of about
three or four years, the time right after my first prison experience in
1972.  While what I was doing was never a discussion, everyone knew
me.
They kept in touch with me throughout my prison experience, and then I
was finally released to a half-way house for a couple of years where
my brothers and parents lived.  Another of the many gifts in the "being
arrested" container.  I like to say (and may have said it already
here) that I would have turned down many of the great gifts of my life
given the opportunity up front.
  

    
A half-way house where you could live with people you know sounds
interesting.  I had a friend who was a half-way house counselor in San
Francisco in the 1980s, and my impression was that the group there had
only one another (and a part time counselor) for company, peer pressure
and support.  

Also, having a functional family with the emotional and psychological
ability to stay connected through it all is something not everybody
ends up with.  Good for them.
  

    
I know a fellow who was paroled from a federal prison to a place in the San
Francisco tenderloin.  His roommate wanted him to come along with him to rob
the corner store.  He turned down the offer.  His roommate ripped him off a
day or so later and he had to knock the guy out.

"they don't want you to succeed", he said to me back then.  he moved down to
mountain view and went to work selling stereo equipment.  made me wonder if
drug smugglers are naturally good at selling things like stereo gear.

this fellow's prison story began with a flight to La Paz Bolivia.  He was
arrested at the airport and charged with conspiracy, got a 25 year sentence
that he'd still be doing had not Jimmy Carter negotiated a prisoner
exchange.

The transcript of his trial was 24 pages long and mentioned Al Capone.  The
conspiracy (the flight) originated in Chicago.

In La Paz, the prison guards only worked the day shift.  You can imagine
what might have happened there after dark.  Here's a recent blog entry.
Seems little has changed in the 30 years that have passed since this fellow
was in prison there.
http://esc2.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/coca-prison-and-death-road/

When my friend got back to the US, he spent some time in a minimum security
federal prison in Florida.  He told me that he kept finding himself in
conversations with white collar criminals who wanted to do deals together.

Having gained a useful set of skills in La Paz, he very well could have
stayed in that business.  I lost contact with him, always thought he had a
good book inside him.

My takeaway from his experience was that you can't just fly down to La Paz
and bring stuff back without the risk of working someone else's street
corner, especially if the people already on that corner are in the Bolivian
government.  They will just take you off the street the next time your name
shows up on a flight manifest.

Who knew the game was rigged?
  

    
My experience is that most "drug" supplying nations are getting by on
much less per capita than we are used to consuming.  For example, I
seem to remember a figure equivalent to $30.00 was the monthly pay of a
Colombian police officer in 1972.  So, of course they saw me, and
those like me, as a lucrative source of additional funds, and people
had their hands out from the bottom to the top, looking for "theirs." 
Take care of each individual along the way, the path clears for one's
departure from those places; don't take care of them, and the detour
can take years.
I can tell you unequivocally that the game is rigged, and even in our
brave and free land, palms are greased, eyes look the other way,
shipments move unimpeded through checkpoints.  You know, the same way
big pharma or the insurance industry "contributes" to your local
senator... in any other world, that action is bribery, plain and
simple.  Let me say that as far as I can tell, until we get money out
of politics, nothing will change, such as - drugs will remain illegally
distributed through the co operative chain of smugglers and
distributors, chased by the giant "Corrections Inc." who have a vast,
vested interest in the status quo remaining so.
In the past 40 years, we have thrown in excess of a trillion dollars
at an ever escalating problem of drug abuse.  We live in a "don't let
the facts get in the way" kind of world when it comes to this subject. 
We are the only country in the world that actually brags about
increased arrest rates.  Imagine!  Really; think about that mindset for
a minute, the person who thinks it is good news that we are actually
arresting and incarcerating more of our citizens.  They say "See, it is
working."  And, until we are willing to have another look, and act
differently toward this issue, of course, we cannot expect different
results.  
Can you tell that this is one of my pet rants?  Well, I come from
Newfoundland, and as that good old Newfoundland folk song goes, "We'll
rant and we'll roar like true Newfoundlanders..."
  

    
Would it be useful to see "money" as a drug the political system is
hooked on?  

Perhaps the deeper problem is the whole matter of getting hooked as on
celebrities, ideologies, video games, appearances, action, etc, as
well as drugs legal or illegal.  

Should I include "The Well"?
  

    
I seem to become readily hooked to anything that takes me from the
moment, that takes me from myself.  I need to continue to remember that
I am the doorway to all things in my world, yet so often I am more
concerned with yours, and what's passing through there that I might
want/envy/judge... all tricks of that singular part of me that wants me
to fail.  Only real success for me comes in being here now.  As Ram
Das said, "Where I am trying to get is here, and when I am trying to
get there is now."  I need to be reminded so frequently that the real
key to the there and then is the now, and if I am continually
distracting my self with food/drugs/information so as to allow me to
look away from seeing who I am so that I can then see through me, I am
going to stay inert, in one spot, for a long while, and most change
will be superficial only.  It would be a drag to get it on my death bed
how much I had avoided allowing in my life through misdirected, wasted
attention. 
  

    
Interesting point about the long detour if you forget to tip the right
people.  It was naive to think that you could just roll into La Paz and get
some suitcases made, then leave without tipping everyone along the way.

On the prior trip, this fellow had been searched on the plane.  They taxied
out to the runway, then stopped, let the police on and searched him.  The
goods were taking a different path home, except for what was sewn into my
friend's leather passport holder.  It made him feel more at ease to hand
them what they were looking for, I suppose.

Still, he was competing with people who were tipping well, so they took him
off the street.

It always seemed to me that the same skills and initiative could be applied
in a legal context for as good a return.  Not as exciting, but far less
dangerous.
  

    
Great response in post #61, Brian.  And thanks for sharing with us
regarding your book and life.
  

    
Hey Bill
re - "The same skills and initiative could be applied in a legal
context..." in 2001 I placed an ad in a national newpaper here in
Canada that went something like this - 

FORMER MARIJUANA SMUGGLER
Having successfully completed a ten-year sentence, incident free, for
importing 75 tons of marijuana into the United States, I am now seeking
a legal and legitimate means to support myself and my family.

Business experience: Owned and operated a successful fishing business
-- multi-vessel, one airplane, one island and processing facility.
Simultaneously owned and operated a fleet of tractor-trailer trucks
conducting business in the western United States. During this time I
also participated in the executive level management of 120 people
worldwide in a successful pot-smuggling venture with revenues in excess
of $100-million US annually...

I go on to use the DA who prosecuted my case as reference.  I got over
600 responses to that ad from all over the world...
Some, who think they know these things, say it is the most read
classified ad in the world.  If you google "Former Marijuana Smuggler
ad" you can see plenty on it, including actual scans of the ad.
  

    
But did you get a job?


I want to talk to you about CI.  How surprised were you and the others
when you realized he'd gone to the authorities?  What were your
feelings around it? about him?
  

    
Brian, what music did you listen to in your college-scene days,
smuggling days, and now? Any favorite acts, tunes, albums, sounds?
  

    
Hi Lisa... That ad, through a circuitous route, got me a job producing
a television series that went on to become the number one show on a
couple of Canadian Networks, and is now shown all over the world.

Re CI
If you recall, earlier on I wrote of how I managed to survive through
not second guessing, following my intuition, and gut instincts.  The
moment I first heard from CI regarding the offload he had come up with,
I knew I should hang up the phone.  He was a wild card that I knew had
pieces of him which were connected to people I would have nothing to
do with; and initially, I did, hang up that is.  But, after a few calls
I succumbed to the potential money.  In my heart I felt that this
would find a way to unravel, and I hated being right later, but I was
not surprised.  All of us felt that once we pushed him away, it was
going to be really impossible to keep an eye on him.  It is said that
we should keep our enemies closer than our friends, and I know why
through my CI experience.
CI is who he is, and I owe him a debt of gratitude as he provided the
threshold to some of the greatest gifts of my life.  While the little
me thinks the world's daisy growing mechanism would benefit from his
inclusion in the compost, I do realize that were it not for his
chicanery and traitorous behavior, I would not be here having this
brilliant conversation; I would have missed the time in prison where I
learned so much of me and others; I would have missed the opportunity
and perhaps not taken any other time to write the foundation for what
was to become HIGH; Con-Air would only be a movie; I would have missed
being sent to Newfoundland to live in a half-way house for two years,
where I had the opportunity to build a relationship with my parents,
one which I never had; and at that same time I got to know my brothers,
and to be the lucky recipient of their friendship and support after
twenty years of "I wonder where Brian is."  Despite the many and varied
and completely wonderful gifts that came though CI's betrayal (I'll be
dining out on them for the rest of my life), I have never seen him
since, nor do I care to see him again.  It's like that sexual abuse, I
learned so much from it, but years after the fact, and while the
lessons I gleaned from that series of incidents with the Irish Brother
have proved invaluable, I won't be inviting that character home for
Thanksgiving this year either.
  

    
Ooh, good answer.  I am familiar with the feeling of being right about
something I wish I had been wrong about.  Satisfying and sucky all at
the same time.  

It's amazing that the ad was THAT successful.  
  

    
Christian... The soundtrack to my life, huh?  I have never really
looked at that until now, as I know I will need to do when it comes to
the film version, although there are a few artists that stand out in my
memory, and I will make a little list here for you, and please forgive
me if the chronology is wonky...
First of all, let me tell you that there are two songs from my very
early youth that have always stayed with me, and I will find a way to
place these in the film appropriately.  The first is a song, that, when
it was a hit in 1954/55 (I think), the young girl from outport (very
rural at that time) Newfoundland, who helped my mom with the five of
us, used to sing that song to me as she ironed, and as her toothless
mouth so gleefully sang out those words so that even Jim Reeves would
have loved the sound, my heart soared with joy as I was that Bimbo. 
Bimbo, Bimbo
Where you going to go e o ,
Bimbo, Bimbo
What you going to do e o.
Bimbo, Bimbo
Does your mommie know, that your going down the road to see a little
girlly o

Bimbo, is a little boy, who's got million friends
and every time he passes by, they all invite him
He'll clap his hands and sing and dance and talk his baby talk.
With a hole in pants and his knees stick out, he's just big enough to
walk.

And on it goes.
The next song, I see as the underlying theme music for the film, and
that is Green Door by Jim Lowe, which was a hit shortly after Bimbo,
probably 56 or 57.  I can just hear "There's an old piano playin' down
behind the green door" as the load of pot comes crashing through the
cockpit door on that DC6.

(Midnight, one more night without sleepin')
(Watchin' till the mornin' comes creepin')
(Green door, what's that secret you're keepin?)

(Green door, what's that secret you're keepin?)

Green door!!

But to the early years of herbal and chemical illumination, I seem to
recollect Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven as an incredible acid song,
as was just about everything by Jimi Hendrix.  If you haven't heard
Joe Bird and the Field Hippies "American Metaphysical Circus", then
rush out and get it.  It has recently been re-released on disc.  The
Byrds music was always a wonderful soundtrack for inner landscape
exploration, Cream, Bob marley of course, and Toots, John Mayall, Steve
Windwood, Blind Faith; I got to see Pink Floyd perform the entire Umma
Gumma in Denmark at the Falconbridge.  It was one of those incredible,
memorable experiences, it was the flower growing out of the shit I was
in at that moment, living in a hovel with two very addicted morphine
junkies. Then there was always the Steve Miller Band.  Interesting with
Steve, was that every single album they released, on first hearing I
could not get with, however on every subsequent listening, it was the
most recent greatest sound ever, and fabulous tripping music... Deep
Purple, Moody Blues, Audience, The Who, Alice Cooper, Captain
Beefheart, The Turtles and then Flo and Eddy, Frank Zappa, Jethro Tull,
Cat Stevens, Steppenwolf, Lighthouse, Sly and the Family Stone, Marvin
Gaye, Lou Reed, Simon and Garfunkel (remember the talking poster in
the "green powder" story?), Santana, Isaac Hayes, Credence, and on and
on.
Most recently, I have found a new and wonderful Canadian singer
songwriter, Justin Rutledge, and I find I am listening to him
frequently; then there is Alex Mason, my friend who goes by Al Mageddon
(http://www.almageddon.com) will get you to his music.  I love that
guy.  My ongoing soundtrack is Agustin Lara, Antony and the Johnsons,
music of Arvo Pärt, Jack Johnson, Jimmy Scott, Leonard Cohen, Michael
Franks, the beautiful and sweet Charlotte Gainsbourg and her mother,
too - Jane Birkin, Kiri Te Kanawa is singing one of four versions of
Chants D'Auvergne I have as I type this list.  I have to stop and
listen, now, so more will be revealed.
  

    
On my MYSPACE page http://www.myspace.com/brianodea there is a song
which streams by Red Peters called The Hand of the Almighty which I
love listening to often.  You'll see.  Perhaps a better place to listen
is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLwtqwnI6ko 
  

    
Oh yeah, for Justin Rutledge, go to http://www.justinrutledge.com/
  

    
Thanks for that link!

Brian, this has been a fascinating conversation.  With just a day to
go, I wanted to remember to recap where to find information about the
book and your speaking schedule -- at http://www.brianodea.com/ 

I also wanted to make a note of some of the great ongoing
conversations about these issues in other WELL conferences.  The
<drugs.> conference for the heavy matters, and places like <music.> for
some of the related culture.  (There's a classic topic about drug
coverage in the news that is linked (displayed in common) in both
<drugs.> and <media.> where the related journalism is deciphered, which
you may enjoy, too.)
  

    
can someone show Brian how to extract the term WoSD (short for "War on
(Some) Drugs")?
  

    
here's the topic search

topic wosd
current.old.696  F    The WOSD Strikes Again
drugs.604             How & When Will the WOSD End?
drugs.682             Charting the End of the WOSD in Europe
politics.old.489         F    WoSD : Violation of International Law?


seems like there are more topics on this.
  

    
here's a search for topics that include the word drugs.

advertising.69        Advertising drugs
attack.143       F R  Interrogation, torture, drugs, polygraphs
bb.old.131       F    Drugs are Food for Mutants
belgium.ind.28    L   Legalizing Drugs
bryana.206            Bryana drugs
bryana.old.47    F    This is your bryan on drugs
canada.94             Drugs Canada
current.534           More news from the War On Some Drugs
current.old.116  F    Gingrich Claims White House Staffers Used Drugs
current.old.243  F    Sex, Drugs, Death, and Abortion: Help Me, Please
current.old.302  F    More Fallout From The War On Some Drugs
current.old.453  F    Drugs & Racism - the Left & Right Achilles' Heels
current.old.492  F    Everybody Must Get Stoned - Free Drugs for the Elderly
current.old.576  F    The War on Drugs, a modest proposal
current.old.579  F    If the ancient Greeks had had performance enhancing
drugs, they would have built shrines to them
current.old.654  F    Drugs, Docs 'n Dollars
current.old.829  F    Dubya and drugs
current.old.1121         F    Reagan and drugs - my drugs
dreams.ind.120        Dreams and anti-depressant drugs
drugs.96              Dangerous Drugs [cont.]
drugs.143         L   Legalizing Drugs
drugs.167             Technical References on Psychelics/Psychoactive Drugs
drugs.203             Botanical Drugs
drugs.214        F    Drugs in America  V
drugs.224             Sharing Drugs
drugs.250             Advertising Drugs
drugs.264        F    Bush's War on Drugs (continued)
drugs.271             Computers and Drugs
drugs.285             Legalization of Drugs
drugs.295             Legal drugs...
drugs.299         L   Drugs and Children
drugs.304        F R  the tobacco industry:  pushing lethal addictive drugs
to our kids
drugs.328        F    News from the War on Some Drugs
drugs.338        F R  Experiences with "Smart Drugs" and Nutrients
drugs.343             Drugs and getting pregnant
drugs.352        F R  Smart nutrition?  Smart drugs?  Dumb users?
drugs.353          R  Media portrayal of drugs
drugs.367             News from the Net about The War on Drugs
drugs.386             Smart Drugs Facts?
drugs.388        FL   Barlow's defense of LSD against The War On Some Drugs
drugs.389        FL   Smart Drugs?  Smart Nutrition? Smart Users? [cont]
drugs.394             Perot's War on Drugs and Privacy and Freedom
drugs.404             Bush's War on Drugs Continues
drugs.408             R U 486 and the importation of unnaproved drugs for
personal use
drugs.409        F    The Horror, The Horror - Chris Wallace's War On Some
Drugs
drugs.412             Drugs in Prison
drugs.414             Natural vs. (Hu)Man-made Drugs
drugs.418          R  DRUGS & SPIRITUALITY [GNOSIS]
drugs.420         L   Drugs
drugs.443             Drugs for suggestibility
drugs.456             SMART DRUGS
drugs.475             New Book about Religious Drugs
drugs.480             Dreaming about Drugs
drugs.487             Drugs for sleep disorder called restless leg syndrome?
drugs.489             Legalize Drugs...will the surgeon general set a fire?
drugs.494             How to stop the war on Americans (war on drugs)
drugs.499         LR  Definitive Indictment of the War on Drugs
drugs.506             Share your Experience with Good drugs
drugs.520          R  the latest on smart drugs interception by the feds
drugs.548             what drugs are you on
drugs.577             URLs, References and Resources for Drugs
drugs.578             Sacred Drugs and Rituals
drugs.589        F    "The War on Drugs is Lost" - Nat'l Review and NY Mag
drugs.591             Books on Drugs
drugs.592             Drugs & Creativity
drugs.595             Let's Start the War on All Drugs!
drugs.596             Psychedelic Drugs Reconsidered Again?
drugs.609             Drugs, gateway to... gardening
drugs.610             News from the War on Some Drugs
drugs.623             New Drugs
drugs.665             RAVE DRUGS
drugs.683        F    Media coverage of the War on Some Drugs
drugs.688             If All Drugs Were Legal, Which Ones Would You Take?
drugs.689             Smart Drugs
drugs.690             New Host(s) For The Drugs Conference
drugs.691        F    Media coverage of the War on Some Drugs
drugs.692             Buying drugs on line
drugs.695             If all drugs were legal, what would happen?
drugs.696             Misc questions about drugs
drugs.697        FL   Media coverage of the War on Some Drugs
drugs.705         L   More media coverage of the War on Some Drugs
europe.ind.50    F R  The War on Some Drugs -- Ending in Europe?
firearms.old.67  F    Zero Tolerance or Zero Intelligence - The USA's new
war on drugs and citizens.
firearms.old.68  F    Zero Tolerance/Zero Intelligence - War on drugs or war
on citizens - Part II
firearms.old.83  F    COPS & DRUGS symbiosis research
first.old.55     F    Supreme Court and Drugs, 1991 Session
gd.2141       Deadheads and the War on Some Drugs
gd.old.473       F    Gay Vegan Jewish Ratdog Fans Who Love Jazz and Want to
Talk about the Fraudulent Election of George Bush As Well As Travel Tips to
Paris, David Gans' Solo Career, the Next Dick's Picks, the War on Some
Drugs, and Why Jam Band Lyrics Are So Lame
gd.old.557       FL   Barlow's defense of LSD against The War On Some Drugs
genx.29   L   Drugs
health.1566           Expiration dates on drugs and supplements
health.1770           Ordering Prescription Drugs From Canada
health.1825           Doctors paid millions by drug companies to give unsafe
drugs
health.1850           Snake Oil or Gift of the Gods: supplements, herbs, OTC
drugs
health.1877           The cost of meds, and saving money on drugs
health.old.221   F    new weight loss drugs
health.old.247   F    Ads for Rx drugs - cool or stupid?
health.old.440   F    The Politics of Pharmaceuticals (HIV drugs in
particular)
health.old.499   F    Psychotherapy, Mind-altering Drugs and Back Problems
health.old.573   F    Can prescription drugs be redistributed?
health.old.613   F    Buying prescription drugs
health.old.721   F    Bastard drugs?
health.old.827   F    Diet drugs/weight loss/fenfluramine-phentermine
history.427           Historical Parallels to the War on Drugs
jazz.26       Jazz musicians and Drugs.
legal.old.38     F    Supreme Court on double jeopardy and drugs
legal.old.72     F    Little leaguers on drugs?..the Supremes strike again.
media.2387       FL   Media coverage of the War on Some Drugs
media.2575        L   More media coverage of the War on Some Drugs
misc.old.11      FL   Smart Drugs?  Smart Nutrition? Smart Users? [cont]
mondo.old.15     F    Experiences with "Smart Drugs" and Nutrients
mondo.old.67     F    Smart Drugs?  Smart Nutrition? Smart Users? [cont]
mondo.old.385    F    Experiences with "Smart Drugs" and Nutrients
mondo.old.393    F    Smart Drugs?  Smart Nutrition? Smart Users? [cont]
movies.old.28    F    Movies and Strange Drugs
music.old.648    F    Who likes TECHNO??, the music of drugs and fun and
computers and such...
news.ind.16           How to Drive Real Fast on Drugs While Getting Your
Wing-Wang Squeezed and Not Spill Your Drink
oldbrain.113     F    101 Smart Drugs You'd Like To Have Available
optical.ind.32        Should Optometrists Prescribe Prescription Drugs?
pacrim.169         R  Drugs in Asia
parenting.1019        What do you tell YOUR kids about Drugs & Sex?, part II
parenting.old.512        F    How to deal with morning sickness without
drugs!?
parenting.old.529        F    What do you tell YOUR kids about Drugs & Sex?
parenting.old.763         L   Drugs and Children
politics.old.85  F    CA Prop 8. Schools: Class Size Reduction,
Credentialing, Suspension for Drugs
politics.old.195         F    Should all mind altering drugs be legal ?
Heroin, cocaine, PCP etc. ?
politics.old.349         F    Calif. Proposition 36: Drugs, Probation, and
Treatment Program
politics.old.536         F    War on Drugs: Part 2, Tobacco
politics.old.553         F    War on Drugs == Human Rights Crime
politics.old.652         F    The War on Drugs as "the One Ring"?
popcult.old.59   F    Proof that there was a time everyone was on drugs
popcult.old.409  F    A new millenium, time for new drugs
psychology.272    LR  Definitive Indictment of the War on Drugs
religion.ind.13       Religion and Drugs
science.old.102  F    Modeling the effect of drugs on the human body
science.old.263  F    Science of the War on Drugs
southwest.old.104        F    Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll in Austin
true.old.298     F    Addictions.  Low grade, not drugs and stuff like that.
weird.2295            Drugs
weird.6320         R  Stoner (jax)'s War On Drugs!
wellkids.old.38  F    Do your parents admit they used drugs?
woodstock.old.12         F    The difference between drugs then and now
workers.old.109  F    Arrest the War on Drugs
workers.old.118  F    The White Middle Class Needs the War on Drugs
workers.old.135  F    Human Rights Crimes in the War on Drugs
writers.old.627  F    writers on drugs

some goodies in there.