July 13

Richard Anthony Marin's Birthday

Richard "Cheech" Marin (left) and Tommy Chong (right)

Richard "Cheech" Marin has had a remarkable career as an actor, comedian, and children's book author and record producer. Children of the 70s may have first encountered him as half of the comedy act of Cheech and Chong with partner Tommy Chong. Their stand-up routines were primarily based on the hippie generation philosophy of free love and all the marijuana you could smoke. They released many successful comedy albums, and starred in a series of popular films, including Up in Smoke (1978) and Cheech & Chong's Next Movie (1980). The stoner duo also had cameos in some major films including Graham Chapman's Yellowbeard (1983) and Martin Scorsese's After Hours. (1985).

They broke up the act 1980s. As Cheech explained. "“We just got sick of each other. We'd been together 17 years. We just kind of didn't want to listen to each other anymore. We both wanted to go our separate ways.” They technically reunited in 2000 as voice characters in the as South Park for the episode "Cherokee Hair Tampons." Tommy Chong's career fizzled out and when his company, Chong's Glass, was raided by federal officials on February 25, 2003, as part of a federal crackdown on "drug-related paraphernalia., Tommy pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to distribute drug paraphernalia and as sentenced to nine months in federal prison. They formally reunited in September 2008 for a comedy tour.

Meanwhile, Cheech's career kept spiraling upwards. He costarred with Don Johnson in TV's popular Nash Bridges (1996–2001) and soon became a favorite of director Robert Rodriguez, who has worked with him several times including the Spy Kids trilogy (2011-2011), From Dusk Till Dawn (1995) .and the Machete trailer for Grindhouse.(2007)

However, if your toddlers know Cheech, don't be alarmed that they may be potheads. Cheech has also authored a children's book titled "Cheech the School Bus Driver," and has two best-selling children's albums, "My Name is Cheech, the School Bus Driver" and "My Name is Cheech, The School Bus Driver Coast to Coast" They may also recognize his distinctive voice of Ramone in Disney/Pixar's Cars (2000) and CARS 2 (2007) as well as in the CARS videogame. So to celebrate Cheech' s birthday, we recommend renting a copy of Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2004) and sipping a Cannabis Vodka. Just don't invite Tommy Chong over since the Feds may still be sniffing him out.

Cannabis Vodka

Ingredients

1/4 oz of stockpiled cannabis stems from breaking up buds.
Vodka (any kind should do)
Glass container

Instructions

1. Place all stockpiled stems in a jar.
2, Pour in your vodka, just enough to fully submerge the stems.
3. Let set in a dark place for about a week. After that, you will need to strain out the stems through a coffee filter