Stoner music has never been high on my list. Especially when smoking a joint is the only way people can relate to it. It's great to have a liberal outlook on politics, but I have this strange feeling that Toothpick's first solo album, after Bad Ronald, is not going to change the world.

There are a lot of people who would appreciate "Time Travelin' Couch." I even dated one of them for awhile. It was a strange union. She was a short hippy girl who had gotten divorced after finding her mechanic husband in bed with another woman. I suppose I was the rebound relationship that she needed after throwing various grease laden auto parts at her adulators spouse. Who knows? What I do recall is she listened to a lot of Dave Mathews and Spearhead. Most of our weekends consisted of smoking from a bong and bopping to the laid-back beats.

I bring this up because Toothpick reminds me of Spearhead. Both Doug Ray and Michael Franti started in interesting bands but moved on to do laissez-faire pussy projects. I'd take Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy over Spearhead any day and I'd have to say the same about Ray's solo career.

The title track, "Time Travelin' Couch," tries to be amusing and funny, but would be better suited if it were heard acoustically in a distant corner of the Union Square's subway stop. "Every Day & Every Night Girl," steals a Creedence Clearwater Revival twang guitar sound and will probably be the liberal college anthem by the end of the year. However, what really is nerve racking is the last track, "Super Size Me," which may have been fine as the theme to the award winning documentary, but plays like a bad public service announcement on the album. Really, if it were not for the melodic hooks on "Scars For Entertainment," and "Comin' Home,' it would be hard to sit through this CD.

Obviously this album is not for me, but I would recommend it to my hippy stoner girl if I still had her number. I can picture her with a blunt, mesmerized by Toothpick. Colorful dreadlock hair would frame the smile that his music would provoke. After we shotgunned a few spliffs I would probably think it was great too.