After thirty-five years, I finally tracked down Martin O’Brien, one of the lads from my London bricklaying days. Now he makes documentaries about the 1990s San Francisco rave scene and leads the way in California’s cannabis industry. I caught a sneak peek of his film Between the Beats, and it grabbed me immediately. The lights, the music, the chaos, and the people who made it unforgettable all come alive on screen.

Back in Streatham: London Bricklaying Days
In the eighties, I shared a bedsit with ten lads—Irish, English, a mix of grafters, dreamers, and troublemakers. We worked building sites by day and hunted a bit of craic by night. Smoke, chatter, and chips hung thick in the air.

Among the chaos were Martin and Gerry O’Brien. Martin was the joker, a bricklayer with timing like a stand-up comic. His favourite line?

“You might be good, but when I’m around, you’re only second best.”

He laughed until the walls shook. Gerry stayed quieter, steady, a carpenter, solid as a pound. Their dad ran O’Brien’s Shoe Shop back in Cork. Both lads were genuine, full of energy and mischief.

Over the years, I bumped into Martin in Jersey, in Australia—always by chance. He had the same spark and grin. Then life drifted us apart. For decades, I wondered where he had gone. Then yesterday, out of nowhere, I found him. The life he’s built is incredible.

Martin O’Brien — From Bricks to Documentary Lights
Martin poured the same energy he had on building sites into film. He directs and produces Between the Beats, a documentary exploring the early days of the San Francisco rave scene in the 1990s. I previewed it, and it grips you. The lights, the music, the sweat, the rebellion all jump off the screen.

San Francisco became the epicentre of the American rave scene. The early ‘90s hosted legendary all-night electronic-music parties. These events drew a diverse crowd and transformed many. They became culturally iconic and socially significant, leaving a lasting imprint on a generation.

Martin’s film blends interviews, archival footage, contemporary B-roll, and time-lapse photography to capture the DIY spirit and psychedelic energy of the scene. The documentary goes beyond DJs and music. It shows the artistic, communal, and almost magical force of those full-moon parties.

“Most of the parties were illegal,” Martin said in a Reddit AMA in 2024. “We would set up in warehouses, get a few hundred people in before the cops arrived, and if the vibe was right, they usually let us finish.”

Between the Beats will stream and sell on platforms including Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, Microsoft, Vimeo, Fandango, Spectrum, and Verizon. It’s a rare chance to explore the San Francisco rave scene before its wider UK release (Variety, 2024; DJ Mag, 2024; Kickstarter, 2023).

Broke-Ass Stuart called it a trip back to the early 1990s San Francisco rave subculture, capturing both the chaos and creativity that defined the era (Broke-Ass Stuart, 2024).

From Dance Floors to Green Fields — The Cannabis Chapter
Before film, Martin became a pioneer in medical cannabis.

In 2001, he co-founded Patients Care Collective in Berkeley, one of California’s first licensed dispensaries. Years later, he built Foxworthy Farms in Sonoma County, growing organic, pesticide-free cannabis with the same precision he once applied to bricks (The Irish Times, 2018).

“I saw cannabis as medicine long before the system did. It is about helping people live better, not just getting high,” Martin told The Irish Times in 2018.

From bricks to cameras to crops, Martin has done it all—and done it with heart.

Finding Him Again
Seeing Martin now as a creator, innovator, and healer feels like a gift. Life bends in strange ways, sometimes full circle. The lad I shared smoke, jokes, and long days with now leaves his mark on film and cannabis culture in California.

Here’s to Martin O’Brien, Cork-born, world-built, still second to none. And whoever helped reconnect us, thank you.

Funny old life, isn’t it?

— Tommy Kennedy IV

Sources
The Irish Times, “The Irish Man Making His Mark on California’s Cannabis Industry” (2018)

Variety, “Gravitas Ventures Acquires San Francisco Rave Doc Between the Beats” (2024)

DJ Mag, “90s Rave Scene in San Francisco Explored in Between the Beats” (2024)

Kickstarter, Between the Beats Campaign Page (2023)

Reddit AMA — Martin O’Brien, Director of Between the Beats (2024)

Apple TV — Official Page: Between the Beats

Amazon

Foxworthy Farms — Official Site

Broke-Ass Stuart, “Between The Beats: A Trip Back To S.F.’s Early 1990s Rave Subculture” (2024)

 Martin O’Brien, 1990s San Francisco rave scene, Between the Beats documentary, San Francisco rave culture, cannabis pioneer California, Patients Care Collective, Foxworthy Farms, electronic music documentary, UK blog.