/ 30 August 2005

Art Garfunkel in troubled waters with second drug bust

Singer Art Garfunkel, who pleaded guilty last year to drug possession, has been charged again after a marijuana cigarette was allegedly found in his car, New York state police said on Tuesday.

A state police spokesperson said Garfunkel, one-half of the legendary folk duo Simon and Garfunkel, was pulled over by a trooper on Sunday after failing to halt at a stop sign not far from Woodstock in upstate New York.

A subsequent search of the vehicle uncovered an unsmoked marijuana cigarette, the spokesperson said, adding that Garfunkel (63) had been ordered to appear in court on September 22.

The singer was busted on a similar charge and in similar circumstances in January of last year, when he was pulled over by state police who found some marijuana in one of his jacket pockets.

On that occasion, Garfunkel pleaded guilty to possession and was fined $200.

In 2003, Simon and Garfunkel completed their first US concert tour in 20 years.

The duo’s six-year collaboration, from 1964 to 1970, produced hit songs like Mrs Robinson, Bridge Over Troubled Water and America that helped define a generation.

Personal differences led to an acrimonious split in 1970, after which the two pursued solo careers, reuniting only rarely — notably for a concert in New York’s Central Park in 1981. – Sapa-AFP