MSNBC is reporting that reclusive funk legend Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart pleaded not guilty to possession of cocaine rocks on Wednesday. The 68-year-old frontman for Sly and the Family Stone was arrested April 1 when Los Angeles police pulled over a live-in van for a minor traffic violation. Cocaine rocks were found in the clothing of both Stone, who was a passenger, and the driver, according to the singer's defense attorneys. Both men were arrested.
Stone's lawyer Peter Knecht said that musicians often hang out with people who have drugs, and those found on Stewart were not his. Um, OK. Stone may want to get a better lawyer, because that sounds like a crock. Stone, a veteran of the San Francisco power scene, revolutionized soul music with tunes such as "Don't Call Me N——-, Whitey" and "I Want to Take You Higher" that both fed on and fueled the political and social turmoil of the time.
His career, however, was marred by decades of run-ins with the law. Throughout the 1970s and '80s, he was plagued by drug- and gun-possession charges.
"You can't punish a guy for what he did 40 years ago, 30 years ago," said Knecht.
No, but you can punish him for what he did back in April. If it looks like a duck, smells like a duck and quacks like a duck, then maybe it is a duck. Hopefully Stone will get the help that he appears to desperately need so that this type of "misunderstanding" will not continue to occur in his life.
Read more at MSNBC.
In other news: Is This the End of Weinergate?