Early life and education

Hager was born on May 25, 1951, in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, the son of Lowell P. Hager^[1] and Frances Faye Erea Hager.^[2]

While a student in junior high, he established his first publication, the Cap'n Crunch Courier, a humor xerox zine that was given away free. Two years later, while a student at Urbana High School, he created The Tin Whistle, a monthly newspaper that was eventually distributed in four high schools in Central Illinois.

Hager briefly visited Haight-Ashbury in 1968, and the following year he attended the first Woodstock festival.

He obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater (Playwriting), and a Masters of Science in Journalism, both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Early career

After graduation, Hager moved to New York City, and worked for a number of magazines before becoming a reporter for the New York Daily News.

Hip hop journalist

During this time, he began researching the hip-hop movement of the South Bronx. His first article on this subculture was published in 1982 on the cover of the Village Voice,^[3] and was the first time the words "hip hop" appeared in a major publication.^[4] Hager based his article on interviews with Afrika Bambaataa, founder of the Universal Zulu Nation, and one of the three original hip hop DJs (the others being Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash).^[5]

Not too long afterward, Hager sold his original story, "The Perfect Beat," to Harry Belafonte, who took some elements from it, including the subject and some of the characters' names, to produce the film Beat Street, released by Orion Pictures in 1984.^[6]

In 1984, St. Martin's Press released Hager's groundbreaking book, Hip Hop: The Illustrated History of Break Dancing, Rap Music, and Graffiti.

Hager followed that book in 1986 with Art After Midnight, an examination of the New York nightclub scene and its influence on artists, primarily Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf. (The entire text of Art After Midnight, including the much-quoted Basquiat interview, was reprinted in Hager's 2002 book Adventures in the Counterculture, as well as his 2005 book The Octopus Conspiracy and Other Vignettes of the Counterculture: From Hippies to High Times to Hip-Hop and Beyond.)

High Times

In 1988, Hager began a long relationship with High Times magazine, as he was hired as the magazine's editor-in-chief. He is most well-known for removing positive coverage of hard drugs (e.g., cocaine and heroin) from the magazine, and instead concentrating on advocating for the personal cultivation of cannabis.^[7] Hager became the first editor to publish and promote the work of hemp activist Jack Herer.^[8]

Under Hager's leadership, High Times created the Cannabis Cup, a cannabis awards ceremony held every Thanksgiving in Amsterdam; and The High Times Freedom Fighters, the first hemp legalization group. The High Times Freedom Fighters were famous for dressing up in Colonial outfits and organizing hemp rallies across the United States. One rally, The Boston Freedom Rally, quickly became the largest political event in the country, drawing an audience of over 100,000 to the Boston Common. Hager created a garage rock revival band called the Soul Assassins. The band played many of the hemp rallies. Their biggest show was opening for the Butthole Surfers in front of 50,000 people in Washington, DC.

As editor, Hager brought on a friend from high school, Jim Wilson, to become a columnist for High Times. Wilson became known as Chef Ra and contributed a cooking-with-pot article in every issue of the magazine for 15 years. Chef Ra was also a member of the High Times Freedom Fighters and became the featured speaker at many of the rallies.

In 1990, Hager became the first person outside Marin County, California to promote 420; as a result, subsequent Freedom Fighter councils, Cannabis Cup ceremonies, and Whee! festivals were always scheduled for 4:20 PM.

In September 1991, Hager wrote an article in High Times titled "Heritage of Stone," a comprehensive analysis of the assassination of John F. Kennedy that has been widely circulated on the Internet as a definitive article on the subject.^[9] The article indicated Kennedy was likely murdered because of his growing opposition to the Vietnam War, and implicated J. Edgar Hoover and Allen Dulles in the cover-up. Judge Jim Garrison cited it as "the best magazine article ever written on the subject."

Hager created the Counterculture Hall of Fame in 1997 as part of the Cannabis Cup ceremonies.

In the mid-1990s, Hager turned the membership list of the Freedom Fighters over to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), and began concentrating on creating events that advocated the environmental benefits of hemp while also demonstrating the spiritual uses of cannabis. The World Hemp Expo Extravaganja, or WHEE! Festivals, were held in Oregon, Washington, Michigan, New York, and Ohio. Unfortunately, most of the promoters who held Whee! festivals found themselves subject to intense law enforcement efforts to shut down their venues. The primary focus of Whee! was a silent, Sunday, sunset meditation for peace in the war on drugs. During this period, Hager was contacted by the Waldos, the inventors of 420, and became the first person to interview them.

Hager was fired as High Times editor-in-chief in 2003.^[10] His 2004 book, The Octopus Conspiracy and Other Vignettes of the Counterculture: From Hippies to High Times to Hip-Hop and Beyond, compiles some of his previously published work; the chapter "Nomenclature of an Octopus Cabal" theorizes that a network of secret societies manufactures war for profit and social control.

By 2005, Hager was rehired at High Times, first as the creative director, and then in 2006, back in the position of editor-in-chief,^[10] but by 2009 had returned to the role of creative director.^[11]

He was again let go by the magazine in 2013, eventually suing High Times for defrauding him of his ownership shares in the company.^[12]

Documentary film work

Hager learned to shoot and edit video, and started documenting all research on videotape. He has produced several feature documentaries, including Let Freedom Ring, Secrets of the Dutch Grow Masters, The Cannabis Cup, Saint Stephen, The Tom Forcade Story, and The 20th Cannabis Cup, assembling one of the world's largest archives of cannabis-related video.

In 2002 he directed the video shoot that was later released as Live in Amsterdam. In 2004, he wrote most of the narration for a/k/a Tommy Chong,^[13] and also appears in the film. Hager appeared in Episode #12 ("Pittsburgh") of the Showtime series Weeds, playing himself at an event modeled on the Cannabis Cup.

In 2007, he produced a reality television show based around his job at High Times magazine. Hager appears in the 2013 film 420: The Documentary and provides the history of the phrase and its ceremonial use, as well as his role in spreading awareness on the spiritual aspects of cannabis.

On April 19, 2021, Hager released his first film in 13 years, Green Easter.

In December, 2023, Hager announced the creation of a peace sanctuary and festival site to be created in the Catskills. The opening ceremonies, titled "Camp Fun," will be held on the Summer Solstice 2024 and co-hosted by Patti Astor. The event has a Facebook page and GoFundMe.

Later activities

In 2014 Hager created Abakus Media in Denver, published the ebook Cannabis Cures Cancer?, and founded the religious organization the Pot Illuminati.^[14]

His essay "The New Pot Enlightenment" was included in the 2016 book Cannabis and Spirituality: An Explorer's Guide to an Ancient Plant Spirit Ally.^[15]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hager created a podcast titled Everything You Know is Twisted.^[16]