No, she didn't want to talk to me about her Academy Award for Dead Man Walking or the eleven pending projects listed on her IMDB page or whether Justin Timberlake is a motherlover in real life. No, she wanted to tout Amendment 64, the Regulate Marijuana LIke Alcohol Act, for which she's voicing robocalls.
Afterward, I contacted Amendment 64 proponent Mason Tvert to get more information about this effort, including whether locals can expect to receive robocalls from more notables as election day neared. Via e-mail, he confirmed that calls voiced by Sarandon and former Congressman and ex-gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo are currently in rotation. However, he declined to provide any additional information or sound files so we could share the recordings.
Why is Sarandon involved in a ballot measure that's specific to Colorado? One clue is her membership on the advisory board of the Marijuana Policy Project, a national organization that backs Amendment 64 philosophically and financially. As we noted in a September post about funding for Amendment 64, MPP has donated by far the largest percentage of cash received by the campaign to date. Here's a graphic illustrating its contributions from the Voter's Edge website; the data was updated on October 16.
Also a member of the MPP advisory board is Melissa Etheridge, who's recorded a radio advertisement for Amendment 64, as has Tancredo. Continue to read more about the Marijuana Policy Project and to hear the Etheridge and Tancredo ads. What other MPP advisers might be available for Colorado's robocall pleasure? The board includes a number of folks with local connections, including Jello Biafra, of Dead Kennedy's fame, and the members of Medeski, Martin and Wood (Chris Wood is a local boy made good), as well as Dallas star Larry Hagman, former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, onetime Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura and Jefferson Airplane/Starship songstress Grace Slick, plus comics ranging from Bill Maher and Hal Sparks to Jack Black and Tommy Chong.As you'll recall, Chong voiced a series of Good Times commercials for Colorado last year that made sly references to weed culture. So he's got experience!
Here are the radio ads featuring Etheridge and Tancredo.
More from our Mile Highs and Lows archive: "Good Times hires Cheech and Chong to promote its green (chili)."
