[Harp-L] getting arrested for sucking on harps?



It's 1967. I'm 16-years-old and riding around one morning in Santa Monica with a few pals in a purple VW van with flowers on it. <Stop laughing! It was the '60s!> Cop pulls us over.

Cop, sniffing inside the van: "What's that smell? You boys been smokin' marijuana?"
Us, in unison: "No, sir!"
Cop, looking into my eyes: "Then how come your eyes are bloodshot?"
Me: "Ummm.. Saltwater? I was surfing."
Cop: "Then where's your surfboard?"
Me: "Umm.. I was bodysurfing."
Cop: "Then where's your swim trunks?"
Me: "Umm... I just wore my jeans."
Cop: "Then how come they're dry?"
Me: "Umm... they dried out?"


Cop searches van. Finds nothing illegal.

Me:   "Umm... do you have probable cause to search this car?"
Cop:  "What are you, a Philadelphia lawyer?!?"

Me: <takes out harp, plays "America The Beautiful.">

Bottom line: The other guys got let go, I got taken to jail. Sat in the juvi-tank for the afternoon. Then they made me sign a paper that I had been "Detained, not arrested," and told me to go home.

So in answer to your question, nope, never been *arrested* for playing harp, but I *have* been "detained" -- albeit only for an afternoon. Ah, the Summer Of Love... :)

cheers,
TB




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