Cheech and Chong, back after 25 years

by admin

How excited are we? Let me tell, you pretty excited. The timing is well, perfect. As you know we are just getting moving around here so this kind of activity is fabulous.

Clearly Headshop was not around when they started their careers but we sure wish that we were. On many levels, this duo epitomizes that which we love here. Clear champions of the counter culture and outspoken members of society, these guys are everything which we hold dear. After 25 or so years this historic duo is back on tour and, wow.

Aside from their clear achievements of film and comedy these two men are incredible people.

Take Cheech Marin. Through the years Mr. Marin has exhibited a spectacular range of talent. A quick IMDB lookup of his name shows 89 entries for acting. It continues with 11 entries for writing and soundtrack each. It sums up with a few entries for director and a few for producer. These entries span 30 years with appearances in things everyone knows by heart. His roles span from a stoner in perpetual bliss to kids movies; comedy to drama.

Aside from a tremendous career which, although impressive enough, would not be sufficient to make this entry what it is, Mr. Marin is a wonderful human being off screen. He has devoted an enormous amount of time giving back to the Chicano community. His sense of pride to his heritage is humbling to this author. A seemingly endless barrage of accolades attributed to him, certainly too vast to mention here, prove time and time again that Cheech Marin has made a career out of giving back.

It is not often that when one reflects on one’s life that they are able to say, possibly in the same sentence, that they smoked a van load of marijuana in one movie and was the voice of a chihuahua in a Disney flick. This professional diversity is reflected in his personal accomplishments. From bi-lingual children’s albums, to being the recipient of the 2000 Creative Achievement Award, to being on the boards of the Smithsonian Latino Center and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Cheech Marin is a genuine human being by any standard as well as a role model for us here at Headshop.com.

Clearly this partnership has two sides. The other is the infamous Tommy Chong. Three decades, a bit more now, of doing what he loves in spite of all the challenges, not the least of which being nearly a year in prison, from where we sit makes him a hero.

Leveling the playing field, a quick glimpse to his IMDB profile lists 35 actor entries, 11 soundtrack, 9 writing, 7 director, and 3 producer credits. Clearly this is a man who has been involved, very deeply, in entertaining people. One of his most known of course is directing and acting in “Up in Smoke”. Anyone who has no knowledge of this movie should navigate away from this posting now.

Past that Mr. Chong is a capable musician. He was a guitar player for the band Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers as well as responsible for penning their biggest hit. He has also written music for several movies and television shows.

Mr. Chong has spent a lifetime dedicated to entertaining us all. In addition to this however he is also an activist and supporter of legalizing marijuana and allowing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. He even sits on the advisory board of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws). Funny, talented, and speaking out; we love it.

To hear that they are reuniting after such a long time makes us glow with happiness. We are looking forward to the show here in NYC at the end of the month. We will be sure to report back all of the details for those of you who cannot make the show. Until then, if the tour dates come to your neck of the woods, we highly recommend picking up some tickets.

Here is a list of tour dates to check out.

January 5th, 2009  |   10:30 pm