Reggae Fest 2010: A Study Of Stoners Young & Old

Go HERE for the full gallery of photos from Reggae Fest 2010!

Yesterday was reggae day of the annual two-day JazzReggae Fest on the intramural field at UCLA. The fest brought reggae lovers and stoners of all shapes and sizes together for an afternoon of music, sun, bbq and lots of ganja.  Despite the very heavy police presence, people were blazing up all over the field and the smell of freshly lit green clouded the air.  Headliners Nas and Damian Marley put on a fantastic performance, which served as a wonderful backdrop to what really got our attention--the shameless weed smoking of everyone there.

The day was like a study of stoners through the ages, from teenagers to the elderly. And we do mean elderly.  Case and point: this man.

Grandpa Stony makes the rounds across the field to say hello to his loyal subjects.

Grandpa Stony here has to be well into his 70s and was bouncing around high as a kite saying hello to people he apparently knew while he hopping from blanket to blanket like the mayor of Stonyville. As he danced around the field, he was welcomed with open arms into the rotations of many young peoples' sessions, so it was definitely a good day for him.

Then there were your requisite Westside private school white boys who kind of stuck out of the crowd like sore thumbs with their skinny jeans and ironic accessories.  These boys were smart and rolled their blunts in the car before they got there, saving them a world of difficulty and paranoia of trying to do so out on the breezy field.

The boys assess the chosen smoke spot to make sure it's secure before they assume the position and spark up...

"Hey bro, would you stop being sucha grimer and pass that. This is not a charity drive..."

"Jesus Christ. Like I drove all the way from Kenter on my Memorial Day to watch him smoke the blunt we rolled. Aw man, look at this shit, it's all soggy now!"

They found a strategic spot nestled between several groups where they felt safe enough to lineup Indian-style and fire up that fatty.  See the payoff of a private school education? Making mom and dad proud parents one Dutch/Swisher at a time.

There were also young parents who puffed on spliffs right in front of their seemingly clueless toddlers during the show. Yeah... Not that cool. As carefree as the day was, seeing a father take a hit from a J and then bend down to play with his 2-year-old as he passes it to his wife and exhales is not the most sound of images.

In case an event called "Reggae Fest" is not a clear enough warning: unless you're cool with exposing your very young children to a sea of marijuana, don't bring them.

...But it did widen the scope of our study and gave us another demo to round out our spectrum of stoners at large.