CHEECH AND CHONG Cheech and Chong were playing at the El Mocambo on Spadina Avenue in Toronto, sometime in the mid seventies. There were two shows, one at 9pm and another at 11pm. I was two minutes late for the first show, so I had to wait for the second, but luckily there was a band I knew playing at the bar downstairs from the Macombo. So, in I went and 'this came to that' and the band was taking a break, so we went to the dressing room to chill and smoke a few joints. As they were going back on, they asked me if I would like to get up and sing a few tunes, and of course, I said I would. They got me up on the stage, and I sang the last five tunes of the set. As I was getting off the stage, a short guy came up to me and said in a voice I soon recognized as Cheech Marin, “Hey man!!! I been listenin’ to you - you got a great voice, man! Hey man, you goin’ to see the show ?” So I explained how I was late for the first show, and he said, “No problem, man - follow me!”, as he cocked his head towards the back stairs. As we went up the stairs, I was rubbing my hands together gleefully, but it wasn’t over yet. At the top of the stairs was the Macambo. He looked around the room (there wasn’t a person in sight) and said, “Hey man! You wanna go up to the dressing room and smoke a joint ?” I broke up at this and said, “What is this, a movie? Where’s the camera?” We were both chuckling all the way up the stairs to the dressing room, where Cheech introduced me to Tommy Chong, their manager and a couple of others. Cheech got out this duffle bag and rooted out a big bag of weed, passed it to me and said, “Here, man. Roll a big one! I’m still laughing as I realize that I, Pam Marsh, am rolling a joint for Cheech and Chong!!!!! So, trying to impress them with my joint rolling abilities, I rolled up a three paper special, and passed it towards them. Cheech looks at me in total innocence and says, “Oh no, man. We can’t do that shit before a gig. Fucks us all up!! I was hysterical by then and the show hadn’t even started yet! After the joint and some champagne, someone came in and hollered, “Ten Minutes!” and Cheech says, “Hey, man, get this lady a good seat.” And a good one it was, right at stage left corner. I must say that they can do things live that they can’t do anywhere else, that’s for sure, and my face was sore from laughing!! « return »