# Greta Gaines

Greta Gaines is an American singer, songwriter, and activist for marijuana legalization, who became prominent competitor in the early years of the development of snowboarding as a sport.

## Quotes

* I am waking from a dream, I am choking on a scream, You were trying to show me something. But the dark is wide and long, The gates are closed, the crowd's all gone, You're still shimmering and leading me on…Firefly that's what you are Burning for me in my darkest hour "Light breaks where no sun shines" So shine for me tonight — firefly.
** "Firefly" on Greta Gaines (1999); the phrase in quotes is a line from a poem of Dylan Thomas. · Full song at YouTube · Live Performance
* I wake to "magnolias sweet and fresh", Lines of poetry on my breath, You were here but you have stolen away. My inspiration is an evening star, So come to me wherever you are, I will wait for you tonight alone in the dark…
** "Firefly" on Greta Gaines (1999); the phrase in quotes is one earlier found in "Strange Fruit" (1937) by Abel Meeropol, famously sung by Billie Holiday.
* I'd stop a train just to watch you get off, Don't leave me alone with my whiskey thoughts.
** "Whiskey Thoughts", on Whiskey Thoughts (2008) · Video at YouTube
* Not only is pot way cooler than alcohol, it’s also non-toxic. Dylan Thomas could not have smoked himself to death.
** "Why Are No Women Celebrity Stoners Willing to Come Out of the Greenhouse?" (16 August 2012)
* When I was younger I was always looking for someone’s approval. Then I had kids and what I needed from music totally changed. Motherhood just kind of sliced away all self-defeating behavior. The lesson I learned from the experience of releasing Whiskey Thoughts was that if I make another album, it has to be for me. It has to be much more personal and honest, unique and raw, and that is what I hope that we have done here. After 20 years playing and touring, 5 studio albums and one live album I finally feel that I have found my sound. Like it or leave it the sound on this album is mine and mine alone.
** On her album Lighthouse & The Impossible Love (2013), as quoted at Michelle Roche Media Relations
* My parents wrote their own rules, so it didn’t seem odd to me to invent my life as I went along. … I picked up a guitar and started writing songs late, when I was 22, but quickly became devoted to the craft of song writing, relieved that I had found my inner calling.
** As quoted in the "Greta Gaines" profile page at Artist Direct

## Quotes about Gaines

* Greta Gaines was voted one of the 'TOP 100 Most Influential People in Cannabis' and is a former member of the National Board of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Law (NORML).
** Cannabis Science press release: "Greta Gaines Former Member of the National Board of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Law (NORML) Joins Cannabis Science (CBIS) Team to Enhance Company's Business Development Activities" in MarketWatch (28 January 2014)
* Greta Gaines is a true original and rocks hard at everything she does.
** Sheryl Crow, as quoted in profile at Artist Direct
* I think the best camp for women is the Wild Women’s Snowboard Camp, launched by women’s 1992 World Extreme Champ, Greta Gaines, and co-directed by Mary Seibert. It follows a philosophy by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, author of Women Who Run with the Wolves, in that women need to break free; that there is a need and obligation for each woman to reach this level and let go. Snowboarding’s a fluid sport that allows you to do just this. Like rock climbing, it’s more about balance and grace than strength and ego. Therefore, women excel.
** Kathleen Gasperini, in "The First Time: A Girls’ Guide" in Transworld Snowboarding (15 October 1999)
* Greta Gaines isn’t afraid of a challenge and she’s as courageous in her artistic life as she is in her professional life. Singer/songwriter, bandleader, adventurer and extreme sportswoman — Gaines is a woman set on living life to its fullest. Gaines comes to her blend of sports and art honestly. Her father is novelist, screenwriter and outdoorsman Charles Gaines (Pumping Iron, Stay Hungry) and the inventor of the game of Paintball. Her mother is painter, sculptor and former Miss. Alabama, Patricia Ellisor Gaines. Hunter S. Thompson, Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities were frequent visitors to her family’s rural farm growing up so pushing boundaries and living life to its fullest were part of her upbringing.
** Profile at Getty Images
* Greta Gaines is a newcomer to the movement of legalizing marijuana. Having spent the last 20 years immersed in the extreme sports and rock n roll world, however, she has been smoking and thinking about smoking pot for a very long time.
** Profile at NORML speakers bureau
* Greta's years' long passion to help patients and her active involvement in developing novel cannabis-based products are inspiring to all in our rapidly changing landscape of within the cannabis industry.
** Robert Kane, Director and CFO of Cannabis Science, as quoted in "Greta Gaines Former Member of the National Board of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Law (NORML) Joins Cannabis Science (CBIS) Team to Enhance Company's Business Development Activities" in MarketWatch (28 January 2014)
* Is it enough to be an Extreme Snowboarding National Champion? An on air TV host? A professional fly fisherman? Not for Greta Gaines. This multifaceted woman also has just released her fifth studio album, Lighthouse & The Impossible Love, and what a rollicking ride it is. Dripping with vintage tone and sultry but gritty vocals, Gaines' latest effort is a study in tension and release. Sweetness and sorrow. A good old-fashioned stomp juxtaposed with a bluesy narrative. And you know what? It’s all good.
** Laura B. Whitmore, in "Guitar Girl'd: Greta Gaines Talks New Album, 'Lighthouse & The Impossible Love'" in Guitar World (6 June 2013)

## External links

* Facebook page
* Profile at IMDb
* iTunes page
* "Indie Spotlight: Greta Gaines" in BMI News (7 June 2013)
* Biographic profile at AllMusic.com
* "Greta Gaines" (17 August 1999) sound samples from her first album