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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sounds To Us Like He’s Just Blowing Smoke

Compiled By Staff Writer Rick Bo

First it was Paul McCartney claiming he turned on Mick Jagger to pot (which Jagger doesn’t seem to recall).

Now the former Beatle is calling for the legalization of marijuana, saying that putting pot smokers behind bars runs the risk of turning them into true criminals.

“When I was jailed in Japan for having pot there was no attempt at rehabilitation,” he told Britain’s New Statesman. “They just stuck me in the box for nine days. Decriminalization would take the sting out of the issue.”

Countered a spokeswoman for the government Home Office: “Our position is that no drug is a safe drug.”

And a British rehab agency official said pot “is not without risks,” adding: “If you spent all day smoking it, you’d never get out of bed.”

Loose talk

Ray Charles, on his career choice (in Rolling Stone magazine): “All my life, I’ve never wanted to do anything but music. I can do other things - I can type 60 words a minute - but I don’t plan on being a secretary.”

The male cicada ‘makes a loud, shrill sound’

Jon Secada turns 36 today.

So, it has nothing to do with the Stones’ age?

Speaking of Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stones have taken to using TelePrompTers in concert to remind them of song lyrics and stage directions. “The set list changes regularly,” a Stones spokesman explained, adding: “Believe me, these guys are as sharp as ever.”

You just have to know where to draw the line

Rick “Super Freak” James, fresh out of jail for drug and assault convictions, is trying to revive his career. To his critics, James says: “So what, I was a cocaine addict. So was the mayor of Washington, D.C. What are all these people, saints? I’m the only cocaine addict ever?”

The kid is probably just a nip off the old block

A torn abdominal muscle has forced David Crosby to postpone a planned concert tour with his son, James Raymond. The walrus-mustached rocker first met his offspring while recovering from a liver transplant three years ago.

Maybe she could go out dressed as a kumquat

Success hasn’t spoiled Fiona Apple. The 20-year-old singer, named Best New Artist at the MTV Video Music Awards, still lives with her parents and doesn’t have a driver’s license. “I’ll never not take the subway, no matter how famous I am,” says Apple, who grew up in New York City. “If it reaches the point where I have to wear disguises, I will.”

And he was expecting to see a boxing match

The reggae-punk band Sugar Ray is hot these days, but it’s been a long time coming. As lead singer Mark McGrath said in Spin magazine: “Just four months ago, we played a full set in Spokane for one guy with a respirator in his nose.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Rick Bonino