Concert Promoter: I Was Once California's Biggest Marijuana Smuggler

Concert Promoter: I Was Once California's Biggest Pot Smuggler

Here's a headline we missed last week, but we're so excited Coachella is happening on 4/20 this weekend that we had to call attention to it anyway.

Gary Tovar, founder of Goldenvoice, the successful concert promotion business that now produces the legendary music and arts festival in Indio, Calif. (without Tovar), told The Guardian in an exclusive interview that 30 years ago, he ran California's largest marijuana smuggling operation.

"When I was doing both my things –- smuggling and concerts –- I considered them crusades," Tovar said. "Now I think we won on both ends. Our music won –- you can hear a Ramones song in an elevator –- and we won on the marijuana front."

And who knew that Goldenvoice was also the name of a marijuana strain?

Of course, there's no way to prove Tovar's claims to be true, but he seems pretty confident about his drug running business. Read these revelations and so many more in The Guardian's fascinating piece.

Coachella's second weekend of shows begins Friday, and if you don't have time to get to the desert in person, you can celebrate 4/20 on the comfort of your couch and follow along with the festival's livestream.

CLARIFICATION:An earlier version of this story suggested that Tovar was a founder of Coachella, he was not. He was the founder of Goldenvoice, which produces Coachella, but without Tovar.

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