u/DonnyShell

Thursday, July 30, 2026
6:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Join cannabis journalist and author Donnell Alexander and friends at the California State Fair Cannabis Exhibit & Experience to celebrate the reissue of his celebrated 2003 weed-soaked memoir Ghetto Celebrity (and to celebrate his 60th birthday!). Find him in the Consumption Area, learn about the book, bring yours to get signed, or smoke some green bud with the author (not required). 

The party is free, but State Fair admission is required to access the Cannabis Exhibit ($12-18), so come early and stay late to enjoy the whole fair. You must be 21 years of age and show valid ID to enter the Cannabis Exhibit & Experience area.

_____________________________________

Donnell Alexander and Ghetto Celebrity

Originally published by Random House in 2003, this spring DesignSimple reissued Ghetto Celebrity, finally making the 2003 critic's fave available now as an ebook and in paperback. 

Donnell Alexander grew up sideways in the cramped spaces of Sandusky, Ohio, the son of a devout mother and a dad named Delbert who was a protean genius who jacked a thousand identities — from pimpin' them hoes to preaching the gospel — but skipped out on fatherhood when his son was in diapers. Donnell unwittingly replayed Delbert's tragedy as farce until he finally wrote himself his own story, becoming a star of California's freewheeling alternative press, spreading the gospels of punk and hip-hop in print. After finding a career and starting a family of his own, Donnell was drawn to reconnect with the vanished Delbert, and when he did, things fell apart, as they tend to in the grip of ghetto celebrity.

High Times' Javier Hasse wrote that Alexander’s true story was "too raw and weed soaked to fit into prestige memoir conventions, and too interested in race, style, and contradiction to flatten itself into some easy redemption arc. Alexander's gift is that he can write from the middle of all that mess without cleaning it up for the room. The voice is brash, funny, and confrontational, and often genuinely electric. You do not really read a book like this for tidy lessons. You read it for the voltage." 

“Ghetto Celebrity is a funny, funky, surprising journey inside the wild mind of a hip-hop generation brother trying to figure out himself and his ghetto world.” — Touré

“Lyrical, but brutally frank… funny, cruel, and self-eviscerating, but soft in the right places. An indispensable book.” — Dave Eggers

The Substack Oldster gave the Ghetto Celebrity reissue a mention last week, recalling thier 2024 interview.

Donnell Alexander is an Ohio-born storyteller presently based in Sacramento. His Substack West Coast Sojourn is predicated on the notion that the entire coast is his home. Alexander sometimes writes about fitness, in the grooviest possible fashion. He also frequently covers cannabis culture and politics. Alexander’s most recognized journalistic work includes An LSD No-No, KCRW’s Lost Notes episode “Neighborhood Secret,” his memoir Ghetto Celebrity, and the 1997 essay “Cool Like Me: Are Black People Cooler than White People?” From 2018-2020 he co-hosted the critically-acclaimed WeedWeek podcast, which made multiple best-of lists.

I had the distinct pleasure of getting to meet Donnell when I lived in California and hear his stories. They're fucking WILD. Donnell is my favorite writer that works in and shapes the cannabis community and culture (along with Jackie Bryant, she is also incredible).

So to see Ghetto Celebrity being celebrated for its 20th anniversary at the California State Fair in the Cannabis Exhibition is super rad, and something I encourage folks to participate in so you can hear from Donnell himself about his experiences and stories. You will be happy you did. It's on 7/30.

I'm posting this purely out of love for this work and the hustle Donnell puts into his writing and work in the culture. I'm sure you'll feel the same way if you've read his words.

Here's what High Times said about Ghetto Celebrity: https://hightimes.com/culture/ghetto-celebrity-donnell-alexander/

This party happens at the fair’s end. Not a lot is going to be newer though..

At the first cannabis exhibition, hardcover copies of the 2003 memoir Ghetto Celebrity were a presence, bought, signed, and read by curious weed culture lovers.

On July 30, the author is back to celebrate the memoir High Times this spring called “not a novelty weed memoir. It is a literary memoir.”

Thursday, July 30, 2026
6:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Join cannabis journalist and author Donnell Alexander and friends at the California State Fair Cannabis Exhibit & Experience to celebrate the reissue of his celebrated 2002 weed-soaked memoir Ghetto Celebrity (and to celebrate his 60th birthday!). Find him in the Consumption Area, learn about the book, bring yours to get signed, or smoke some green bud with the author (not required). 

The party is free, but State Fair admission is required to access the Cannabis Exhibit ($12-18), so come early and stay late to enjoy the whole fair. You must be 21 years of age and show valid ID to enter the Cannabis Exhibit & Experience area.

__________________________________

Donnell Alexander and Ghetto Celebrity

Originally published by Random House in 2002, this spring DesignSimple reissued Ghetto Celebrity, finally making the 2003 critic's fave available as an ebook and in paperback. 

Donnell Alexander grew up sideways in the cramped spaces of Sandusky, Ohio, the son of a devout mother and a dad named Delbert who was a protean genius who jacked a thousand identities — from pimpin' them hoes to preaching the gospel — but skipped out on fatherhood when his son was in diapers. Donnell unwittingly replayed Delbert's tragedy as farce until he finally wrote himself his own story, becoming a star of California's freewheeling alternative press, spreading the gospels of punk and hip-hop in print. After finding a career and starting a family of his own, Donnell was drawn to reconnect with the vanished Delbert, and when he did, things fell apart, as they tend to in the grip of ghetto celebrity.

High Times' Javier Hasse wrote that Alexander’s true story was "too raw and weed soaked to fit into prestige memoir conventions, and too interested in race, style, and contradiction to flatten itself into some easy redemption arc. Alexander's gift is that he can write from the middle of all that mess without cleaning it up for the room. The voice is brash, funny, and confrontational, and often genuinely electric. You do not really read a book like this for tidy lessons. You read it for the voltage." 

“Ghetto Celebrity is a funny, funky, surprising journey inside the wild mind of a hip-hop generation brother trying to figure out himself and his ghetto world.” — Touré

“Lyrical, but brutally frank… funny, cruel, and self-eviscerating, but soft in the right places. An indispensable book.” — Dave Eggers

The Substack Oldster gave the Ghetto Celebrity reissue a mention last week, recalling thier 2024 interview.

Donnell Alexander is an Ohio-born storyteller presently based in Sacramento. His Substack West Coast Sojourn is predicated on the notion that the entire coast is his home. Alexander sometimes writes about fitness, in the grooviest possible fashion. He also frequently covers cannabis culture and politics. Alexander’s most recognized journalistic work includes An LSD No-No, KCRW’s Lost Notes episode “Neighborhood Secret,” his memoir Ghetto Celebrity, and the 1997 essay “Cool Like Me: Are Black People Cooler than White People?” From 2018-2020 he co-hosted the critically-acclaimed WeedWeek podcast, which made multiple best-of lists.

I’ll say it again… this line from Josh d Kustom shop is pretty amazing nothing but straight og kush character and could pass as a legacy heirloom og cut all day. I’ve held over the years. 5 females in a row each one just a bit danker than the last but extremely consistent.

New Yorkers are covering the reissue because I wrote and published it there. But Ghetto Celebrity is anchored in Sacramento.

Come through.