On July 27, a 20-year-old man was pulled over by Texas police, arrested, and kept in jail for five days on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance. He was released on US$5,500 bail and awaits trial, pending chemical testing of the confiscated material.
It's a classic case of mistaken identity - of the material, not the man. The material in question was a copy of Sheet One, a CD made by musician Plastikman - aka Richie Hawtin - and released by NovaMute/Plus 8 Records. The CD's perforated artwork resembles a blotter of LSD hits.
According to Hawtin, the whole Plastikman album was "written as an analogy of a trip, either a journey or an acid trip. It is very repetitive and builds in intensity, reaches a high point and then comes down." The artwork was part of the concept and is chemically inert. Says Hawtin of the arrest, "I don't think anyone thought something like this could happen."
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