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I missed the abrupt breeze that tends to grace these parts as I stood in line on that hot August afternoon, waiting to enter Pine Creek Lodge, a relatively intimate music venue nestled beneath the Absaroka Mountain Range in Montana\u2019s Paradise Valley. The lack of shade didn\u2019t stop the excited crowd from mingling, one of my favorite parts of a live music experience. Once the line started moving, I had the pleasure of meeting people from other states, many of whom were visiting Montana for the first time.<\/p>\n
Out-of-towners were welcomed with that love-thy-neighbor ethos that encompasses so much of \u201cThe Last Best Place.\u201d Paradise Valley, in particular, draws an immense number of tourists, due of course, to its close proximity to Yellowstone National Park. But this past August, the newbies flocked to the valley for a different reason. <\/p>\n
Music superstar John Mayer, who lives there part-time, was hosting three shows at Pine Creek Lodge. The first concert featured Mayer with Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead; the second featured a comedy set by the hilarious (and often controversial) Dave Chapelle; and for the third, Mayer performed solo. He called the first-of-its-kind series \u201cRise for the River.\u201d<\/p>\n As the name suggests, Mayer was performing to provide economic relief for the community following the disastrous June 2022 flooding of the Yellowstone River. Event proceeds benefited the Southwest Montana Flood Relief Fund<\/a>. <\/p>\n The Livingston and Paradise Valley communities took a big hit in expected tourism revenues. So, when Mayer announced he was hosting three intimate concerts for flood relief, it was just the dose of magic Montana needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Where the actual Pine Creek flows into the Yellowstone River is close to Mayer\u2019s Montana residence, so Pine Creek Lodge, a favorite of the multiple Grammy-winner, was a natural choice for the charity concert series.<\/p>\n I was there for night one, August 8, when Mayer performed with the legendary Weir. Everything about that night was extraordinary, almost as if it was a dream. The traditional \u201copen campus\u201d aspect that Pine Creek Lodge is known for was a bit tauter. As expected, the small venue was wildly different from the last time Mayer and Weir took the stage with Dead & Company. The electricity in the air was palpable.<\/p>\n The two artists opened the show by exchanging lead on \u201cFriend of the Devil.\u201d If I closed my eyes, I could\u2019ve been at any one of the massive venues they play\u2014The Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington, Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre in Colorado, or even The Forum in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n Instead, we were minutes from our home, seeing absolute music supernovas, jointly grieving the losses the community endured from the flood.<\/p>\n The results of the flood were devastating and far reaching. Fishing guides couldn\u2019t get on the river as soon as they wanted, let alone hold bookings. Bartenders and other service industry workers weren\u2019t getting their usual summer paycheck to help push through the winter. And then there are the longtime locals living off the land who lost nearly everything.<\/p>\n It\u2019s said that Pine Creek Lodge is one of the country\u2019s first music venues with an on-site dispensary. Bozeman-based Cold Smoke Organics<\/a> serendipitously kicked off their adult-use cannabis sales inside the venue the very same night Mayer and Weir graced the stage, setting the tone for what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n The dispensary\u2019s founder and legacy grower Matt Kleman says his desire to set up shop inside Pine Creek all goes back to the human connection. \u201cMusic is a universal language, and cannabis is as well,\u201d he says. \u201cI grew up with those two cultures welded together, and it\u2019s something I\u2019ve wanted to do for a long time. It makes sense. We want to bring people together and be a part of what the musicians are already doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Cold Smoke Organics launched into the summer music season with three pre-roll varieties: Shakedown, Setbreak and Encore. Shakedown consists of Jack Herer, which is a sativa, meant to get your concert experience rolling. The Setbreak pre-rolls are a hybrid, Apple Fritter, mixing up your mid-show experience. Lastly, Encore consists of Tre Star Dawg, an indica hoping to move you right into your post-show groove.<\/p>\n But none of it would be possible\u2014the weed or the music\u2014without the passion of Pine Creek Lodge Owner Chip Hurt. According to Kleman, from the very beginning, he\u2019s said, \u201cLet\u2019s go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n What a night. Powerful. Inspiring. Once in a lifetime. Whether you decided to light one up and pass it around, or simply absorb the energy and talent of this special occasion, every person there came together for an evening this town will not soon forget. John Mayer\u2019s love for this special corner of the planet was evident for all to see. The \u201cNot Fade Away\u201d encore may have said it best: \u201cYou know my love will not fade away.\u201d<\/p>\n This story was originally published in issue 47 of the print edition<\/a>\u00a0of Cannabis Now.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Wonderland: John Mayer & Friends Perform for Yellowstone<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
I missed the abrupt breeze that tends to grace these parts as I stood in line on that hot August afternoon, waiting to enter Pine Creek Lodge, a relatively intimate music venue nestled beneath the Absaroka Mountain Range in Montana\u2019s Paradise Valley. The lack of shade didn\u2019t stop the excitedContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":65063,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17190,17025,50,17191,11675,17192,85,16767,17193,1918,89,6641,17194,16196],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65062"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/557"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65062"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65064,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65062\/revisions\/65064"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"John](\"https:\/\/cannabisnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/John-Mayer-Dave-Chapelle.jpg\")
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\nRead More: Wonderland: John Mayer & Friends Perform for Yellowstone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"