We’ve interviewed Theresa Greene Priest, owner of Good Vibes, and many sources for the previous two episodes, while navigating the murky and ever-changing landscape regarding the legality of sharing and buying Cannabis in Virginia. This episode is about Theresa and not the difficulties her entrepreneurialism in a booming business is causing her. Because money aside, we believe she is in it to help people.
RB: What is the best way to decompress?
TGP: From the very beginning, the first breath, decompression has always been pretty simple. Decompression is a frame of mind. I personally decompress in meditation and music. Our world is so loud. Sometimes the right way is to be still and hear what the universe is saying before responding. I believe firmly in manifest destiny. I decompress in thought and music.
RB: What is your affirmation for today?
TGP: I use positive affirmation every single day. Live gratefully in the moment! The most important affirmation for me! LIVE in the moment before that moment is gone. They don’t come back! If there’s one thing I would tell young people today it would be that…LIVE in the moment!
RB: Tell us about you as a musician?
TGP: Music is the Script of my life. My mother decided because I was born with long fingers I would be a concert pianist, so she struggled to find a piano teacher to take a toddler on as a student. It was at 4 years old she found one, Elsa Hargar, where she was told I was NOT a musical protege’ but I did have an aptitude for music theory and a knack for the math of music. I could always escape in music from the not so perfect world I lived in. My childhood wasn’t ideal. I used music as an escape like other abused and sad children used anger or drugs or both. Music has always been and will always be my outlet. I found a wonderland of albums in our big, console stereo growing up. It ranged from Floyd Kramer and his magic piano fingers to The Beach Boys or Creedence Clearwater Revival or even hard old Country such as Hank Snow or bluegrass legends such as Lester Flatts and Earl Scrugs. Mrs Hagar taught me the joy of Classical music where my ears danced to Papa Heyden, Mozart and Tchaikovsky. My childhood was full of musical diversity. I learned in my late teens if I would sit down with an instrument I could pretty much figure it out in an hour or so…as long as it DIDN’T have strings(accept the piano. the ONLY stringed instrument I have a working concept of). I started my classical training way back when I was 10 years old when my music teacher Mrs Hagar caught me sounding out my scales before playing them on the piano. It was decided that I should be in classical training immediately. So triggered my love of The Opera. How does a poor, hillbilly kid with roots firmly planted on Holston Mountain, Possum Creek, Tennessee, find a deep affection for The Opera? Well, it happened and I carry it with me still. I’ve been a studio musician. I’ve done back up vocals in session many times. Engineering is one of my favorite things to do in the studio as I have a confessed solid ear. Music truly is the script of my life.
RB: Name Three people, living or dead, to have dinner with and why.
TGP: I would love to sit down and break bread with a few people. I’d love to have dinner with Crazy Horse for insight into the truth of a native culture lost, Dr Maxwell Gerson so that I may grasp, if only for a moment the truth about food, phytonutrition and the cures for endless disorders and diseases, and my Great Great Grandfather Andy Standing Deer Jessee, chief of the Tsilaghi tribe from 1894 til 1918 because he is my blood and played a big role in teaching the ancient language of the Tsilaghi to the Tsilaghi youth instead of the universal “Native Indian” language.
RB: Dark Chocolate or Milk Chocolate?
TGP: I don’t eat chocolate as a rule but when I do indulge maybe three times yearly, I prefer milk chocolate but let’s face it, chocolate of any type is decadent and wonderful.
RB: Favorite Smell?
TGP: I am an olfactory person! I love fragrance. My favorite smell of all time is the smell of the woods. The soft smell of the damp earth is comforting to me. It reminds me of long walks on Holston Mountain with my grandmother as she pointed to foliage and taught me medicinal uses.
RB: If you made a documentary, what would it be about?
TGP: If I made a documentary it would be about the history, uses, and the future of Cannabis. I would love to educate the masses about the medicinal uses of the wonderful plant so that hopefully it will not be taken away, made synthetic or just known as a kick ass way to get wasted with few to no negative side effects.
RB: What is a song you listen to on repeat?
TGP: The song I listen to on repeat as of the last several years is You Dropped A Bomb on Me by The Gap Band. There’s a primal beat to funk. I tend to be drawn to it, giving me energy and reminds me of a simpler time in my life.
HF: What would you tell someone who is curious about trying cannabis, but are taken aback by the perceived social stigma? (ie.. people afraid of what the neighbors think)
TGP: I spend very little time trying to convince people to fight the taboo of Cannabis. There’s so much information out there regarding the positive uses and purposes of the plant. I simply give truths to people they would find easy to research on their own. IF someone is interested and wants to hear about the multitudes of information I have acquired over the years then I open up and spill out as much as they want to hear and probably more but one cannot lead a horse to water and expect an epiphany to happen to induce drinking. There’s an organic process that can’t be forgotten.
HF: THC use in America has been steadily rising for some time within our population. Why do you think there has always been an astounding number of specifically artists and deep thinkers who have regularly ingested cannibis throughout time?
TGP: Cannabis has been a form of creative induction for creative types since the beginning. Cannabis promotes creative thinking. Cannabinoid receptors travel around the neuronic pathways like a fairy with a magic wand awakening deadened nerves. It’s like having a eureka moment to creative types and who doesn’t want to share that with the world? Cannabis allows for a heightened awareness of the creative process. This is not something that is exclusive to creative types. I know many many intellectuals who use Cannabis for those very same reasons.
HF: If you could set the dial on the time machine to 20 years ago and ask yourself a question, what it would be? And has the answer changed?
TGP: The question I would ask myself would be, “Why is it so important to be so driven to keep up with societal standards?”
The answer to that question has changed dramatically for me over these 20 years. I realize how fear drives us to conform. I prefer to dance to the beat of my own drum. It seems to suit me better than dancing hard to keep up with someone else’s idea of what dance steps i should take…Now I couldn’t care less what people think of me or my ideas and I have never been happier.
