Message from Shantibaba
Howard Marks was a gentleman's gentleman and naturally intelligent with a particular way of conveying things. I never tired to hear him talk about any topic...he was a wealth of information, and not the normal info.
Anyhow i wish to share my last piece about Howard which i put together as a time line of knowing Howard Marks. It is how I feel and my opinion of my time with Howard. Enjoy the read...
Working with more than a friend and a true gentleman…thank you Howard Marks!
If you really think about probability and combinations to do with life and death and the bit in between, it is an absolute gift of cosmic proportion to be put on Earth at the same time as Howard Marks…and for that I say thank you!
I am Shantibaba; I have a passion for breeding cannabis and was lucky enough to make some strong decisions at a young age to follow my passion. Along the way I met some good, bad and ugly people but I also met some of the most outstanding personalities of this time. Not only did I have the fortune to meet many of these personalities but I was privileged enough and skilled enough to work with most of the best in this industry from its origins till now…and still going strong nowadays. Most of that is due solely to my collaboration with Howard Marks on the Mr. Nice Seed Bank and CBD crew…as Howard was the most eloquent Cannabis Diplomat our Industry has ever witnessed!
My first encounter with Howard came in 1996 at the High Times Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam. I knew very little of him before. This rather charming and mischievous looking man came up to me after the awards and asked if I wanted a beer and I accepted. We got talking and with his soothing Welsh tones and wonderful way of expressing himself we spent some hours together drinking quite a few beers and puffing away on the winner from that year, which so happened to be a tribute to Denis Perone and the Proposition 215 we called White Rhino or as we call it today Medicine Man at the Mr. Nice Seed Bank. How appropriate we began our relationship on a tribute to Medical MJ. I recall Howard half way through the night in between laughing like school kids asking me directly if there was any chance an old bloke like him could work with a young bloke like me…even if I was from Australia! I do recall telling him; after he told me who he was and where he just come from, that it may not be the most intelligent thing for us to do, as I was still invisible…or so I thought!
Over the following year or two our personal connection grew into a very strong friendship and we took any opportunity to get together and get messed up together. His stories fueled my strong commitment to true old school principals and to those honorable scaly-wags who never used violence or hard drugs to follow their path. What bonded us was the fact we had both gone through University and come out choosing our way of life contrary to what was taught. Let’s face it , Howard came from a mining town in Wales, I came from Melbourne Australia…both countries still have cannabis as illegal nor do you grow up thinking you want to become a cannabis breeder or smuggler, these jobs are still considered undesirable to most to this day. However it was the glue that cemented our friendship.
One thing lead to another and when I left Holland after the 1998 HTCC and moved to Switzerland in 1999, the last action I did in Holland was register Mr. Nice Seedbank as a Dutch company, at the request of Howard. Nevil was invited in to the seed company and produced 4 strains for Mr. Nice Seed Bank while I produced the other 8 and carried out seed production for all 12 original strains we offered in the beginning. Of course between Nevil and me, we had almost all the tools to make almost all the strains so expanding our future together was going to be easy especially with Howard at the helm as spokesperson for the company. For me it was the most logical progression to go into a working relationship with Howard and Nevil especially since my facilities in Switzerland in those golden days was state of the art and automated.
I recall Howard visiting in Ticino in 2001 and I took him and my friend to visit one of the farms we had 60 000 plants growing on. 20 000 plants outside and 40 000 plants under darkening greenhouse system fully automated…a dream that came true! While we were walking around I asked my friend to go over to the doors of the greenhouse and film Howard and I walking towards him smoking a joint and discussing our crop…so while my friend went to his position I rolled a quick spliff and passed it to Howard and he light it up like the professional he was. It was September and the plants were developed into 6 weeks of flowering so it looked like we were walking head height in a sea of cannabis without a horizon. What I did not plan on was the ground was somewhat a ½ meter lower in the middle of the crop since all the plants had reached a uniform height and development in this outdoor crop. So Howard and I began our walk exchanging the spliff after 2 or 3 puffs back n forth to each other. My friend was filming and before we knew it we could be heard discussing things but we had both been swallowed over our heads in the plants and all you could see was a hand coming up for air, or so it looked like, and another hand reaching across to take the burning ember only to be swallowed up by plants again…this went on for 40 meters until we emerged like 2 penguins from the surf in an instant, stoned out of our heads, sticky as a bumble bee and smelling like Critical Mass in front of my friend who continued to film. We all broke into laughter and to this day keep I keep this segment in my private collection to view when I am feeling a bit down.
Howard and I would go on the road 6 or 7 times a year together to do the various Cannabis shows that invited us to come. Over a period of decades both Howard and I amassed a lot of good friends in the Cannabis industry who are still good friends to this day. People loved the integrity that Howard oozed and the dulcet tones of his hypnotic voice with words that seemingly massaged your brain as they were listened to.
Howard affected the young and old the same, all left with smiles wall to wall and happiness tattooed all over their faces. Howard was infectious and I witnessed so many mad and strange versions of fans that I understand what stalkers are today! Elderly women would approach our stand giggling like Beatles fans to ask Howard to sign their breast? Thing that just do not happen in the Cannabis industry happened with Howard Marks, and all with intelligent and gentle diplomacy advocating responsible drug use. Now who could make a job out of that and become the Keith Richards of Cannabis with such grace and style but Howard Marks! I know because I was there next to him the whole time.
The secret to Howard and his old school ways was he had a work ethic like Andy Warhol…whatever state he was in or however many days he had not slept for if there was a performance to do or a meeting to attend or an expo to talk at he treated his work as gospel and was religious about being fair to those who booked him and us. It was a trait I have as well, but Howard was fanatical about attending to his responsibilities and making sure his show catered for the type of audience he was asked to orate to. I have been with him at child story reading in Greenwich Museum, to Cannabis Cups in Spain, and medical conferences in Prague all of them he acted as a true professional and his audience repaid their admiration with standing ovations and autograph queues for 50 meters…all for this timidly naughty bad boy of Cannabis. At times the whole show reminded me of some new religion or philosophy that people assumed the day they were affected from Cannabis… Cannabis made available, due to Howard’s expertise. So just thinking about the puff you took made people smile at the idea this Welsh scaly-wag got it into the country for us to continue to consume. As Howard always said to me, he never made the demand just catered for what people were already using.
Howard made Generation X(1960 to 1980) who grew up using drugs feel proud of their pyscho-nautic experiences and their new state of mind due to the use of drugs. He made the transition of a logical well thought out university graduate with manners and a strong ethical belief, to go for freedom and the unknown rather than the path of the middle class. He made us feel good to get stoned and enjoy it, when all others his age were trying to preach Sodom and Gomorrah ends for us. He participated in all he spoke about with humor and a smile and a passion not normally visible like he displayed. He made people happy with his presence. Our last project together and probably the most influential and life changing for all who entered with us, was forming the CBD crew: a collaboration of Resin and Mr. Nice Seed Bank to enrich strains in CBD in order to help the medical users get what they could not get from their governments or pharmacies in most countries of the world. Howard took on the role of spoke person for our medical project after George Cervantes passed him the baton in 2009. CBD crew has grown and is aiding many patients with diseases from MS to glaucoma, and from cancer to thyroid problems…
Howard and I took the CBD crew very seriously as it is something we both know helps people since we both had personal friends who got well from using this type of Cannabis, and it finally showed us both we were passionate about this plant to the point of extreme for a reason! The plant heals people which is what we both believed as well as making us better people. It has always been the underlying premise of our existence in this work and our company and to finally achieve this level in our lives was yet another confirmation we had partnered up for a reason bigger than ourselves. It is where 1 plus 1 equaled 3 for us and we both never looked back because we simply knew we were correct, not from arrogance but from our life time of experiences.
Howard has been my best friend and the most productive working partner any person could ever ask to have. His word has been his bond and his energetic time table of yearly work never diminished. He lived on the road and out of a perpetual suitcase, roaming the world like the shaman of words he was. He had time for everyone equally and made everyone who came into contact with him feel special. He has been a unique individual, magnetic, poetic, and yet a man of simple needs…almost messiah-like. His intellect stimulated the range of humanity and his presence was calming, I will miss you my dear friend for there is not another around like you.
I salute the late and great Howard Marks…R.I.P