free don bolles

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from Nora Keyes:

"This past Wednesday night [April 4] Don Bolles suffered a bizarre and unfortunate interception with the Newport Police Department. He was stopped for a broken tail light. We believe his unconventional looks and old army green van made him the victim of police profiling in this very affluent, quiet town. They searched his van. The only thing they found was a bottle of Dr Bronner’s soap.

"If you are a good friend of Don’s, you know this is the only cleaning agent he uses for every thing from tooth paste to laundry detergent. The police ran a drug field test on the soap and it came up positive. Dr. Bronner’s is made with hemp seed oil. Maybe this is the reason behind the arresting officer’s error. I spoke with someone who is familiar with forensic drug tests. They said the field test is not absolutely accurate. There are two other drug tests that need to be conducted on the soap. Also, the drug they are ascertaining that Don is in possession of is unusable in a soap base.

"He is being charged with a felony. His bail is $25,000. He could get up to 20 years in prison. This is very serious. Through a bail bonds company it is $2,500. Currently we have roughly $1,000. He is now being held at the Orange County jail. This is not a safe place for Don.

"With all my heart I do believe Don is innocent. I talked to the Police yesterday at the holding facility. Their attitude was harsh. This is truly a horrible and sad incident. I spoke with Don a number of times. He is in utter disbelief that this is happening to him. We are asking friends if they could make a contribution of 10-20 dollars or more to help get him out of jail as soon as possible so he can seek legal assistance.

"Please make contributions to the paypal account below. Also, if anyone knows of a lawyer that can donate their services, please contact me as soon as possible. I spoke with criminal lawyers yesterday and their fees are unbelievably high. Please repost this on your bulletin if your network of friends can help."

deern✧✧✧@ya✧✧✧.c✧✧

Info on Don Bolles (legendary Germs drummer/trickster/connoisseur/L.A. scene fixture):
myspace.com/kittensparkles

― jaybabcock, Sunday, 8 April 2007 01:22 (seventeen years ago) link

sorry --

deernora at yahoo dot com

― jaybabcock, Sunday, 8 April 2007 01:26 (seventeen years ago) link

God, it figures it'd be Newport. Thanks for the news.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 8 April 2007 01:33 (seventeen years ago) link

Isn't marijuana possession a misdemeanor? Or was there so much hemp oil in the bottle of soap that they're incarcerating him for having dealer quantity? What the fuck?

― Tim Ellison, Sunday, 8 April 2007 01:34 (seventeen years ago) link

I've been trying to contact Don since I received this email yesterday. No luck so far. The weird part is that I also called the Newport Beach police department and spoke to someone at the jail who said that they were not holding anyone named Don Bolles and had not for the past few days. So I'm wondering if it's a different city than the text above suggests? I sent some money via PayPal and some emails to Don's girlfriend and to the deernora address but I haven't heard any news. I hope he is okay, and I'm definitely worried about what is up.

― Drew Daniel, Sunday, 8 April 2007 01:51 (seventeen years ago) link

Thanks for checking in, Chris -- tell me, who did you call/did you get a name? Worst comes to weirdest I could get down there somehow, but if as you say Newport Beach PD sez they don't have anyone around, then hm. Since the story mentions OC I have to assume they mean this Newport...but what if it's Huntington Beach, say? (Which would actually make a little more sense.)

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 8 April 2007 01:54 (seventeen years ago) link

'Chris,' why did I say that? DREW. There.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 8 April 2007 01:55 (seventeen years ago) link

"Don Bolles" isn't his real name, Drew.

― jaybabcock, Sunday, 8 April 2007 01:57 (seventeen years ago) link

Wait, hold on, I found this over here:

Thanks everyone for all your help! Many people are writing me because they can not find a Don Bolles on the inmate list in OC. His real name is Jimmy Giorsetti. Also I have received a number of emails concerning paypal. When you go to www.paypal.com, to send money to Don, my account is deern✧✧✧@ya✧✧✧.c✧✧. It is not necessary to write me at this email. We are still about a Thanks everyone for all your help! Many people are writing me because they can not find a Don Bolles on the inmate list in OC. His real name is Jimmy Giorsetti. Also I have received a number of emails concerning paypal. When you go to www.paypal.com, to send money to Don, my account is deern✧✧✧@ya✧✧✧.c✧✧. It is not necessary to write me at this email. We are still about a $1,000 short. Even 5 dollar or less could help.,000 short. Even 5 dollar or less could help.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 8 April 2007 01:58 (seventeen years ago) link

is don bolles his real name? i thought he took his name from that 70s reporter who was blown up by the mafia which might explain why they said they weren't holding anyone with that name.

― stirmonster, Sunday, 8 April 2007 01:58 (seventeen years ago) link

oops. x post

― stirmonster, Sunday, 8 April 2007 01:59 (seventeen years ago) link

Muddled format but you get the idea.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 8 April 2007 01:59 (seventeen years ago) link

The real Don Bolles. Anyway.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 8 April 2007 01:59 (seventeen years ago) link

Oooops.

Anyway, give generously. Free Don!

― Drew Daniel, Sunday, 8 April 2007 02:45 (seventeen years ago) link

wtf

― lfam, Sunday, 8 April 2007 03:29 (seventeen years ago) link

what jury would convict him?

― lfam, Sunday, 8 April 2007 03:30 (seventeen years ago) link

Around here? Where to begin!

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 8 April 2007 03:31 (seventeen years ago) link

Hope he finds a good lawyer

― curmudgeon, Sunday, 8 April 2007 04:17 (seventeen years ago) link

i dont understand why the movie producers or brenden mullen or the tour manager or the kid from ER cant get him out? this doesnt make any sense.

― chaki, Sunday, 8 April 2007 05:00 (seventeen years ago) link

i emailed bruce margolin, famous pot rights lawyer/ head of norml. he's an old family friend and im sure he would rep son for no charge.

― chaki, Sunday, 8 April 2007 10:11 (seventeen years ago) link

who is this guy and why is everybody worried?

― rizzx, Sunday, 8 April 2007 14:40 (seventeen years ago) link

It's written right up there rizzx, plus there's google:

(legendary Germs drummer/trickster/connoisseur/L.A. scene fixture)

― curmudgeon, Sunday, 8 April 2007 16:45 (seventeen years ago) link

don bolles is the trickster figure of los angeles scene mythology

― max, Sunday, 8 April 2007 17:16 (seventeen years ago) link

Kim Fowley might challenge on that front.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 8 April 2007 17:17 (seventeen years ago) link

Everybody: I just spoke with Don. He got out of jail last night. He's okay physically but is freaked out about what may happen next. He has a court date on Friday the 13th (of course) and needs a lawyer -- he's only been able to speak to the public defender person once and has no confidence in them. He will be celebrating his freedom this Tuesday at the new club thing Nora is doing on Hyperion. He's preparing a statement for release later this afternoon.

Ned: I hear ya, KF played his role, but Kim is pretty one-dimensional compared to DB in terms of interests. Plus you rarely see KF around, and when you do see him it's all about HIM. Plus he hasn't built anything of use in years -- Don is always at work, always enthusiastic for something or someone. Don SHARES.

― jaybabcock, Sunday, 8 April 2007 20:14 (seventeen years ago) link

needs a lawyer

Well if Chaki's post is an indication he might well be good on that front!

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 8 April 2007 23:15 (seventeen years ago) link

From Don Bolles via his myspace page:

Don Bolles here - Thanks everyone! I'm FREE - 4 now...

Body: THANK YOU everyone that wrote, called, and especially to everyone who donated their time, expertise, and/or money -- I was released this morning at 1 AM, so I'm out of the hoosgow for now; but I still have to go to court on Friday the 13th, which will hopefully be my lucky day.

I'll send out another bulletin tomorrow, after I've figured stuff out a little more and have a better idea of what the heck is going on with this most surreal of legal entanglements. Right now, however, I am going to enjoy a fabulous $10 vegeterian all-you-can-eat feast at La Flor de Loto (we call it "Waters"), just west of Pacific on Zoe street in scenic Huntington Park, in case anyone wants to join me. Then I have to go to Trader Joe's and get some more Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Liquid Castille Soap -- the Newport Beach Police confiscated mine.

Thanks again, and don't forget to tune in tomorrow to this same station to find out what happens in the next exciting episode!

― jaybabcock, Sunday, 8 April 2007 23:23 (seventeen years ago) link

WAHT THE FUCK

― Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 9 April 2007 22:52 (seventeen years ago) link

see, he's like anansi

― max, Monday, 9 April 2007 23:00 (seventeen years ago) link

Can he really be convicted on the basis of a field test?

― Richard Wood Johnson, Monday, 9 April 2007 23:01 (seventeen years ago) link

I doubt it, but... GHB? that's bad news.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 9 April 2007 23:04 (seventeen years ago) link

"Don Bolles uses soap?"

Excuse me Ned but what's the point of posting anonymous petty cruelty? Especially in this circumstance?

"it would have been a national-level story if Dr. Bonner soap had been the basis of the arrest."

Please. Pure supposition.

That said, Don owes it to everyone (and his reputation) to accurately report the charges he's facing.

― jaybabcock, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 00:04 (seventeen years ago) link

reputation as a trickster god?

― sexyDancer, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 00:09 (seventeen years ago) link

Excuse me Ned but what's the point of posting anonymous petty cruelty?

A small part of it, I think; however, I have second thoughts about posting the letter in general. Instead, here is a link to a blog with posts detailing the case itself, which contains all the information noted above plus some interpretation and guesswork, as well as a final post regarding one of the charges in particular:

http://mrontemp.blogspot.com/2007/04/jimmy-giorsetti-don-bolles-in-orange.html

http://mrontemp.blogspot.com/2007/04/charges-against-jimmy-michael-giorsetti.html

http://mrontemp.blogspot.com/2007/04/hilda-solis-and-out-of-state.html

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 00:19 (seventeen years ago) link

For 'noted above' read 'first posted above' -- that post is now deleted.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 00:19 (seventeen years ago) link

Which is helpful because now it looks like Shakey is boggling at Jay for no reason.

― HI DERE, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 00:34 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.rialtotheatre.com/images/content/mystery.gif

― am0n, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 00:48 (seventeen years ago) link

Indeed.

― HI DERE, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 00:51 (seventeen years ago) link

so who deleted the message and why? what is happening? did we get bamboozled?

― chaki, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 01:04 (seventeen years ago) link

I apologize if I wasn't clear -- I felt uncomfortable with whether that specific mail excerpt was meant to be public or not, which I admit I should have thought through beforehand before posting; had I not been a mod I would have requested that mail's deletion. The blog links detail the same key news regarding the specifics of the charges, as well as providing more information on the penal codes in question and asking after how the initial news of this spread. Jay's concluding point re: Don's needing to be clear on the charges is key.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 01:10 (seventeen years ago) link

WHAT THE FUCK

― da croupier, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 05:03 (seventeen years ago) link

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Adam Eidinger 1-202-744-2671
April 10, 2007

"Germ" Wrongly Jailed Over Soap

Absurd GHB Drug Charges for Don Bolles, Drummer of the "The Germs", Stem
From a Bottle of Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Soap Found in Van During Police Stop

ESCONDIDO, CA - The Bronner family, makers of the popular organic Dr.
Bronner's Magic Soaps are shocked and disturbed by musician Don Bolles'
April 4th arrest for felony drug possession after police alleged an 8oz
bottle of peppermint Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap tested positive for the
illicit drug GHB (Gamma Hydroxy Butyrate). The notion that anyone would put GHB in a rinse-off liquid soap product is beyond belief, and the police field test used must have been flawed or tampered with. GHB, which produces euphoria and is an alleged aphrodisiac when ingested, of course has absolutely no effect in a soap product that is rinsed off the hands and body.

Mr. Bolles, drummer of the legendary punk band The Germs, was arrested following a police traffic stop and spent three and half days in various jails in Orange County before being released early Easter morning. During a consented search of Mr. Bolles vintage 1968 Dodge A-108 van, Newport Beach police found a bottle of peppermint Dr. Bronner's soap which is made with organic coconut, olive, hemp, peppermint and jojoba oils. Felony drug possession could mean 20 years in prison if convicted. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Friday, April 13, 2007 at the Harbor Justice Center, 4601 Jamboree Road Newport Beach , CA at 8:30am.

"I've used only Dr. Bronner's soap for 35 years," says Mr. Bolles. "I use it for everything - bathing, washing my hair, washing my clothes - it goes everywhere I go. I'm scheduled to go to Europe to tour with The Germs this summer, but these felony charges could keep me from traveling out of the country. This whole thing could be really devastating to a 50 year old guy just trying to make a living. I told the officer 'its soap, it smells like peppermint soap,' but he seemed intent on arresting me."

"It is totally outrageous that the police could be this malicious and
idiotic," says Michael Bronner, Vice-President of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps. "This clearly is a case of profiling by the Newport Beach police of a person who doesn't look like the people who live in that town. We are paying the cost of Mr. Bolle's lawyer, and we demand the charges be dropped or proof from the police forensics lab of GHB contamination be immediately provided to us," said Bronner. Adds brother David Bronner, President: "We cannot imagine anyone putting GHB, or any other drug for that matter, into a rinse-off soap product that is lathered and rinsed off the body immediately. The Newport Beach police should see how much of a buzz putting beer in their shampoo gives them, and get a grip and apologize on their hands and knees to Mr. Bolles."

At the time of the arrest Mr. Bolles was driving his girlfriend, and fellow musician Cat Scandal to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Newport Beach. "I had heard of GHB but the police had to tell me what it was," said Bolles. "I'm going to fight these charges."

To arrange an interview with Don Bolles, Michael Bronner or David Bronner. Please contact Adam Eidinger at #####

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 20:36 (seventeen years ago) link

Dr. Bronner guerilla marketing?

― sexyDancer, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 20:38 (seventeen years ago) link

sexyDancer - wow, giving the benefit of the doubt to ORANGE COUNTY COPS. very daring of you!

― jaybabcock, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 20:55 (seventeen years ago) link

jay, it was a joke. lighten up. good on the dr. b co to pay for legal costs. :)

― chaki, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 20:58 (seventeen years ago) link

more importantly, can anyone figure out a way to extract GHB from Dr. Bronners?

― sexyDancer, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 21:02 (seventeen years ago) link

the GHB thing is really sorta bizarre - I mean, GHB comes in a powdered (not a liquid) form, right? so the cops are alleging that Don dissolved GHB in Dr. Bronner's soap and he was going to... drink it? sell it? bathe in it?

fucking cops.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 21:10 (seventeen years ago) link

ghb is usually a watery- like substance.

― chaki, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 21:11 (seventeen years ago) link

huh - okay. so the charge is probably that it wasn't soap at all in the bottle, but liquid GHB instead. I guess that's possible.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 21:13 (seventeen years ago) link

Maybe he's up to some Syd Barret shit and washes his clothes in designer drugs

― sexyDancer, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 21:14 (seventeen years ago) link

now now, sexyDancer.

― mrcs, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 21:23 (seventeen years ago) link

oh right, no humor onna Babcock stylee

― sexyDancer, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 21:29 (seventeen years ago) link

sexydancer - it's the internet, dummy. that means people can't always tell when you're joking or when you're just being cruel.

― jaybabcock, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 21:31 (seventeen years ago) link

funny, people can always tell when you're on a self-righteous rampage

― sexyDancer, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 21:34 (seventeen years ago) link

chill out guys

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 21:36 (seventeen years ago) link

how would making a viral marketing joke = being cruel or being a piggy sympathizer? makes no sense.

― chaki, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 21:39 (seventeen years ago) link

Because it belittles/mocks what Don has been put through. Dude was in Orange County JAIL. Where do you people live??? Have you been in a CA jail before with a $25k bond??? Looking like Don Bolles? Do you know anything at all about the state of prisons in CA? Etc

― jaybabcock, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 21:46 (seventeen years ago) link

jesus calm the fuck down dude. the charges are so absurd they lend themselves to roffles. even don is joking about it. the dr b's co being involved is a really good thing. you're coming off a bit of a prick.

― chaki, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 22:03 (seventeen years ago) link

Besides, what does it matter when the man's been dead thirty years?
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/pics/breaking/0528bolles-banner.jpg

― sexyDancer, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 22:06 (seventeen years ago) link

Where do you people live???

― chaki, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 22:07 (seventeen years ago) link

I have been in jail four times, twice in southern California on 10 & 20k bonds. It sucked real hard, no doubt, but people are free to make jokes about it as much as they want, because I am not a humorless cunt.

― Hans Rott, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 22:14 (seventeen years ago) link

well ok sometimes I am

― Hans Rott, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 22:15 (seventeen years ago) link

thirty years? too soon, guys

― rps, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 22:24 (seventeen years ago) link

anyway, jay, i understand you're passionate about this issue but being a condescending jerk doesn't really help your cause.

― chaki, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 22:27 (seventeen years ago) link

hey dudes - you're right, sorry to be so uptight.

― jaybabcock, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 23:33 (seventeen years ago) link

right on. thanks. im pretty confident that these charges are going to be dropped. lets all hope so.

― chaki, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 23:41 (seventeen years ago) link

we're only all playing save a bro

― sexyDancer, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 02:04 (seventeen years ago) link

HUSTLAS CODE

― sexyDancer, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 02:06 (seventeen years ago) link

WHAT THE FUCK

― da croupier, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 02:37 (seventeen years ago) link

This is one of the weirdest fucking threads ever on ILM, from top to bottom.

― Ben Boyerrr, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 08:34 (seventeen years ago) link

The LA Times story.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:12 (seventeen years ago) link

"This is one of the weirdest fucking threads ever on ILM, from top to bottom."

Ha! Welcome to the world of Don Bolles, where the weirder things appear, the truer they are. It just goes on and on like this, always has...

― jaybabcock, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:15 (seventeen years ago) link

"Executives at Dr. Bronner's rushed to Bolles' defense, hiring attorney Bruce Margolin, who specializes in marijuana cases, to represent the musician."

HOLLA

― chaki, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 17:45 (seventeen years ago) link

So did you get a hold of him?

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 17:49 (seventeen years ago) link

― chaki, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 17:51 (seventeen years ago) link

:-)

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 17:51 (seventeen years ago) link

what would make police field test dr bronners?

― Catsupppppppppppppp dude ‫茄蕃‪, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 18:13 (seventeen years ago) link

the insane rantings running all over the bottle like vines?

― lfam, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 18:15 (seventeen years ago) link

er, rants

― lfam, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 18:15 (seventeen years ago) link

i thought maybe glycerin matched the molar mass of ghb but no

― lfam, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 18:16 (seventeen years ago) link

Hans Rott, love your work man.

― Frogman Henry, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 18:19 (seventeen years ago) link

In-depth piece by veteran journalist Dean Kuipers at LACityBeat:

http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=5328&IssueNum=201

― jaybabcock, Thursday, 12 April 2007 04:00 (seventeen years ago) link

Another piece of the puzzle that just came thru...

"There was a major GHB ring in Newport Beach and it was busted on April 4, the day Bolles happened to be there in his hat... Wrong place wrong time, and the cops were overzealous..."

http://www.dailypilot.com/articles/2007/04/05/publicsafety/dpt-daterapedrug05.txt

― jaybabcock, Monday, 16 April 2007 20:13 (seventeen years ago) link

Drug tests exonerate punk rocker: Don Bolles, arrested in Newport Beach on suspicion of possessing a date-rape drug, is freed after analysis shows it was only soap.

...

Bolles, 50, the legendary drummer for the Germs, spent three days in jail after Newport Beach police said they found GHB, the date-rape drug, inside a bottle of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap in Bolles' 1968 Dodge van.

Police ran a field test on the yellowish goop after stopping Bolles for a broken taillight on April 4.

But a more sophisticated analysis by the Orange County Sheriff's Department crime lab detected no GHB in the soap, officials said Monday. As a result, all charges against Bolles will be dismissed, a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney's office said.

Meanwhile, the makers of Dr. Bronner's announced that other liquid soaps, including Neutrogena and Tom's of Maine, also can mistakenly register positive for GHB with the field test kit used by Newport Beach police.

Bronner's officials said they experimented with the ODV-brand NarcoPouch 928 test kit and various soaps over the weekend and would post a video of the results on their website next week.

"Police departments nationwide should immediately stop using the ODV field test for GHB," Bronner's president David Bronner said.

A spokesman for Armor Forensics, which manufactures the ODV test, said he wasn't familiar with the kit and couldn't immediately comment.

― jaybabcock, Thursday, 19 April 2007 00:42 (seventeen years ago) link

yay!

― youth problem, Thursday, 19 April 2007 02:43 (seventeen years ago) link

four years pass...

REVIVE!

― Poliopolice, Monday, 9 April 2012 19:40 (twelve years ago) link

what'd he do this time?

― sarahell, Monday, 9 April 2012 22:19 (twelve years ago) link

jesus, fuck you Poliopolice, go die

― Flat Of NAGLs (sleeve), Monday, 9 April 2012 23:20 (twelve years ago) link

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